When someone tries to take a movie to court it’s always for a weird reason. Movie-related lawsuits happen a lot more often than you might think. If a film gets big enough, at least someone out there is going to try to get a piece. These lawsuits usually involve other writers claiming some director or studio stole their idea, or their script — and most of these are hard or even impossible to prove. Ideas can come from anywhere, and it’s not unheard of for two individuals to arrive at the same one independent of each other.
These suits are pretty standard, and Hollywood lawyers often deal with them quickly. Non-standard legal battles are way weirder, and thus a lot more interesting. If people aren’t suing for the nebulous concept of idea theft, then what could they possibly sue for? A lot of things, it turns out. A film can be accused of stealing a title, an actor’s likeness, a real person’s name, a piece of art, and it all comes down to what can be proven to be intellectual property and what can’t.
Most of the time these lawsuits result in absolutely nothing for both parties, but they’re interesting nonetheless. Whether they resulted in someone actually being sued or were settled out of court, they give insight not just into the inner workings of the movie industry, but also into the legal system itself, and what parts of it can be exploited, and for whose benefit. Even if the people involved in these lawsuits got nothing of any material value out of it, at least now we know some esoteric bits of legalese to use the next time we think a big movie steals our cool idea.
10 Famous Movies That Sparked Completely Bizarre Lawsuits
These movies were taken to court for reasons you’d never predict.
Gallery Credit: Emma Stefansky
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