http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/joss-whedon-lionsgate-hit-copyright-788854


Joss Whedon, Lionsgate Hit With Copyright Lawsuit Over 'The Cabin in the Woods'

by Austin Siegemund-Broka


The author of a 2006 novel has accused the 'Avengers' director and 'Cabin' director Drew Goddard of stealing his idea.


The author of a 2006 novel has accused the 'Avengers' director and 'Cabin' director Drew Goddard of stealing his idea.
With just weeks until his box-office victory lap for Avengers: Age of Ultron, Joss Whedon is now facing a lawsuit accusing him of stealing the idea for the 2012 meta-horror movie The Cabin in the Woods.

Whedon produced and co-wrote the script for Cabin with director Drew Goddard, a writer on Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and a fanboy favorite in his own right, with credits that include Netflix's Daredevil (and reportedly may soon include Sony's upcoming Spider-Man projects). Whedon and Goddard are named as defendants, along with Lionsgate and Whedon's Mutant Enemy production company, in the complaint filed Monday in California federal court.

In the complaint, Peter Gallagher (no, not that Peter Gallagher) claims Whedon and Goddard took the idea for The Cabin in the Woods from his 2006 novel The Little White Trip: A Night In the Pines. He's suing for copyright infringement and wants $10 million in damages.

Gallagher is basing his claim on the works' similar premises: Both feature a group of young people terrorized by monsters while staying at a cabin in what is revealed to be (spoiler alert) a horror-film scenario designed by mysterious operators. Read the full complaint.

Gallagher also alleges similarities between the characters' names and personalities — his book's blond Julie and shy Dura and the film's Jules (Anna Hutchison) and Dana (Kristen Connolly), and handsome and scatterbrained men in both works — and certain scenes involving the characters finding strange items in their respective cabins and discovering hidden cameras.

In the complaint, Gallagher describes how he self-published the novel and “began grassroots efforts” to sell it on the Venice Beach boardwalk and on Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade. " currently reside and operate out of Santa Monica, California, a short distance from where the Book was sold," the lawsuit claims.

Gallagher alleges that he "was contacted by multiple credited entertainment industry producers who expressed interest in the Book," but he doesn't specify Lionsgate or Mutant Enemy.

A Lionsgate spokesman declined to comment. The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to representatives for Whedon and Goddard.




I'm a huge fan of this flick and I'd be pretty bummed if it were true. But if it is... they need to give that man aaaawwlll that money



"i wanna hug all u idiotic bastards & then set you all on fire" -Bin

www.twitter.com/bedstuybetty
http://bedstuybetty.tumblr.com/
DROkayplayer: Giving you good puff since May '05

I use to work at volunteer lawyer for the arts and use to work it's hotline. I got 5 calls a day from people claiming that a popular work stole their idea.

I would remind them you can't copyright and idea and alot of ideas aren't as original as one would think.



>http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/joss-whedon-lionsgate-hit-copyright-788854
>
>
>Joss Whedon, Lionsgate Hit With Copyright Lawsuit Over 'The
>Cabin in the Woods'
>
>by Austin Siegemund-Broka
>
>
>The author of a 2006 novel has accused the 'Avengers' director
>and 'Cabin' director Drew Goddard of stealing his idea.
>
>
>The author of a 2006 novel has accused the 'Avengers' director
>and 'Cabin' director Drew Goddard of stealing his idea.
>With just weeks until his box-office victory lap for Avengers:
>Age of Ultron, Joss Whedon is now facing a lawsuit accusing
>him of stealing the idea for the 2012 meta-horror movie The
>Cabin in the Woods.
>
>Whedon produced and co-wrote the script for Cabin with
>director Drew Goddard, a writer on Whedon's Buffy the Vampire
>Slayer and a fanboy favorite in his own right, with credits
>that include Netflix's Daredevil (and reportedly may soon
>include Sony's upcoming Spider-Man projects). Whedon and
>Goddard are named as defendants, along with Lionsgate and
>Whedon's Mutant Enemy production company, in the complaint
>filed Monday in California federal court.
>
>In the complaint, Peter Gallagher (no, not that Peter
>Gallagher) claims Whedon and Goddard took the idea for The
>Cabin in the Woods from his 2006 novel The Little White Trip:
>A Night In the Pines. He's suing for copyright infringement
>and wants $10 million in damages.
>
>Gallagher is basing his claim on the works' similar premises:
>Both feature a group of young people terrorized by monsters
>while staying at a cabin in what is revealed to be (spoiler
>alert) a horror-film scenario designed by mysterious
>operators. Read the full complaint.
>
>Gallagher also alleges similarities between the characters'
>names and personalities — his book's blond Julie and shy
>Dura and the film's Jules (Anna Hutchison) and Dana (Kristen
>Connolly), and handsome and scatterbrained men in both works
>— and certain scenes involving the characters finding
>strange items in their respective cabins and discovering
>hidden cameras.
>
>In the complaint, Gallagher describes how he self-published
>the novel and “began grassroots efforts” to sell it on the
>Venice Beach boardwalk and on Santa Monica’s Third Street
>Promenade. " currently reside and operate out
>of Santa Monica, California, a short distance from where the
>Book was sold," the lawsuit claims.
>
>Gallagher alleges that he "was contacted by multiple credited
>entertainment industry producers who expressed interest in the
>Book," but he doesn't specify Lionsgate or Mutant Enemy.
>
>A Lionsgate spokesman declined to comment. The Hollywood
>Reporter has reached out to representatives for Whedon and
>Goddard.
>
>
>
>
>I'm a huge fan of this flick and I'd be pretty bummed if it
>were true. But if it is... they need to give that man
>aaaawwlll that money
>
>
>
>"i wanna hug all u idiotic bastards & then set you all on
>fire" -Bin
>
>www.twitter.com/bedstuybetty
>http://bedstuybetty.tumblr.com/
>DROkayplayer: Giving you good puff since May '05


**********
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"One of the most important things in life is what Judge Learned Hand described as 'that ever-gnawing inner doubt as to whether you're

until - if - the trial goes through

This case has no merit. Any non-musician, non-dancer working the Promenade is a nut. (Some of the musicians and dancers, too.)

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