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Pixar/Disney in "Monsters Inc" Ownership Scuffle
blamanj writes "According to a SF Chronicle story this morning, Pixar has been sued by artist Stanley Mouse. Mouse created a movie treatment titled "Excuse My Dust", which was set in "Monster City," where the animated monster characters worked for the "Monster Corporation of America." One of the characters was a a green, wisecracking, ambulatory eyeball. Furthermore, the lawsuit claims that a story artist from Pixar visited Mouse in 2000, and discussed Mouse's work."
They're the real monsters out there
You think that I'm crazy, you should see this guy!
anyone remember that great simposons parody of this? The one with the hobo?
Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse have discovered their real father, Stanley Mouse...
// zyqqh
If the above article is indeed factual, the irony presented is simply amazing. Here Disney is, along with the big movie buisness, lobbying for laws that stop consumers from performing the same act performed here.Does anyone else see somethign wrong with this?
Please stop it before I laugh myself into a heart attack, please stop it!
Hey, this is my sig, if you don't like it, STOP READING MY POSTS!
Now I'm just wondering how fast this'll get settled with some cash out of court...
it is true, what is it this day with companies so much as farting and sueing the crap out of each other... they need to back down, split monsters inc 50/50 and leave it as is. and stop with this corparate bellyaching.
...it had to happen.
Making trouble today for a better tomorrow...
1. visit your friend at another animation studio
...Profit!!!
2. make your own movie
3.
Fuck, that guy would probably be a lightning rod for Disney lawsuits. I mean, don't they own anything to do with mice in cartoons? Or at least, they sue like it. :-O
I guess he wanted to hit them first with a preemptive strike, George-Bush-style.
Even if Mouse is right and his "IP" was "pirated" it's not likely he'll actually get justice. I have been involved in this kind of thing (periferily) and the Big Company with the money will always win.
--
If I actually could spell I'd have spelled it right in the first place.
Ideas are not worth anything. Can I sue Disney if my grandfather had an idea a 100 years ago about creating a cartoon on mischievous mouse?
This isn't some hollywood gossip site. Leave the talk about lawsuits and cartoons to Entertainment Weekly.
Disney's version wasn't an eyeball -- it was a talking testicle!
This suit is frivolous!
Oh, man... all this time I thought that Mickey and Minnie weren't actually related, or were perhaps cousins at the most. I mean, he gives her flowers, right?
So are they like these ones you hear about on the news that fall in love and then find out that they're long-lost siblings? Or have they known all along... eeewwww!
I'm glad I'm an only child.
Oh, crap.
[shuffles through drawers for wife's birth certificate]
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
Which episode was it? Tried to look for it at snpp.com, but didn't see anything related.
All I can say is that this lawsuit doesn't show much knowledge of the process involved in making a movie like Monsters inc. According to this Mouse fella, somebody from Pixar paid him a visit in 2000. Monsters inc came out in 2001. There is no way that this movie could have been done that quickly. It is a 4-5 year process. The modeling and storyboards would have been complete by late 1999 for sure. This story should have a pretty short lifespan once the facts come out although I admit it is pretty funny for Disney to be sued by a guy named mouse!
The problem with these sorts of lawsuits is that writers, artists, etc are exposed to the same sorts of ideas (memes, if you like) and so similar stuff tends to pop up at the same time. (Like two simultaneous major movies about asteroids hitting earth a couple of years ago, etc.) Sure, sometimes it's a ripoff, sometimes it's coincidence.
..." title and all.)
The "Toy Story 2" DVD had a "sneak preview" of "Monsters, Inc" featuring Mike and Sully. The file date on the disc is Sept. 14, 2000. That clip was likely in production and preproduction for a long time before that. In time for an artist visiting Mouse to be heavily influenced by what he saw there? Maybe, but I'm doubtful.
And regarding "[t]he lawsuit claims that Disney and Pixar also appropriated the "buddy" relationship theme from Mouse's work" -- oh, please, like there's never been a prior "buddy" movie? Abbott and Costello? Hope and Crosby? Laurel and Hardy? Hello? You want to see a rip off of that (in particular, Hope and Crosby), see Dreamworks' "The Road To El Dorado". (Actually I'd call that more a tribute to, what with the "Road To
Not that I'm sorry to see Disney get a taste of their own medicine, but really...
-- Alastair
Now I suppose we're going to have to endure a rash of lawsuits about all the TV cop shows of the last forty years featuring casting like Black Cop/White cop.
These animated movies take quite a while to write, design the characters, record the dialog tracks, and do the animation. Given that it was released in 2001, the movie was well under way in 2000.
In fact, according to IMDB, the movie had a working title of Hidden City in 1999. And I'd venture to guess the project started even before that.
Stanley Mouse has got to be one of the best album cover artists. Back in the days of records he did covers for Journey, The Grateful Dead and Steve Miller among others.
It's a shame now that the packaging for CD's generally is pretty boring.
http://www.kubuntu.org/
Disney's version wasn't an eyeball -- it was a talking testicle!
Well, Mr. Mouse is certainly going for the bit that hurt the most. He must be a former gang member.
"I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don't always agree with them." -- George H. W. Bush
Here's another case of Disney plagiarism or infringement, but there are others too:
t ion=old_site&page=/old_site/issue_16/16_ce.htm
http://www.kimbawlion.com/rant2.htm
http://eidolon.net/?section=old_site&visiting_sec
Any lawsuits against Disney can be expensive.
...you take away our right to steal ideas, where are they gonna come from?
I'll form my OWN solar system! With blackjack! And hookers!
Even the first sentence would be enough.
Does anyone else find it funny that a guy named Mouse is suing Disney?
Snoozer.
I mean, [doesn't the Walt Disney Company] own anything to do with mice in cartoons?
Actually, Disney doesn't own every animated rat:
Will I retire or break 10K?
Disney is renowned for its original work, so I have a hard time believing they would be involved in this kind of rip-off. I think it is this Stanely Mouse that is the real scum. In fact, he probably took his name from that Disney character from 1928. He obviously has an obsession with Disney.
If in fact he is the originator of Sully, he should be compensated fairly. How about a lifetime subscription to Donald Duck? Disney cares about its customers and investors relations, you know. They are _not_ only in it for the money. If they were, they wouldn't get the extensive support from politicians they enjoy now, would they?
C'mon, are you all that dumb to believe in this continuing conspiracy theory?
frawaradaR anahaha islaginaR!
... an old hippy seperated from money!
Minnie and Mickey are in divorce court...
Judge: Let me get this straight Mickey - you want a divorce because Minnie is crazy??
Mickey: Wait a minute... I didn't say she was crazy. I said she was fucking Goofy!
From excellent karma to terible karma with a single +5 funny post...
...the animated monster characters worked for the "Monster Corporation of America." One of the characters was a a green, wisecracking, ambulatory eyeball.
;-)
Anyone else see the reference to Steve Ballmer here?
-- Wibble
Disney will just countersue the poor guy and take away his name.
Gosh, I hope I'm joking.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
Which would make this rather irrelevant since M.I. would have to have been pitched in 1997 to be released in 2001.
"Reality is just a convenient measure of complexity" -Alvy Ray Smith
The underground comix artist R. Crumb drew the SAME green 'eyeball monster' as an alien from outer space in the mid '70s. I don't know who this Mouse character thinks he is, but unless he drew his version before 1976, HE is also in violation of copyright law. Check it out.
walt disney is not frozen. urban myth.
you are right, however about disney's inability to create new ideas.
once again, he totally misrepresents the story. Disney isn't being sued -- Steve Jobs and Pixar is. Disney merely distributed the movie MADE BY PIXAR!
I just cremated my Monsters Inc. DVD.
--- Eat my sig.
Isn't this Mickey's cousin?
The story in Atlantis doesn't have much to do with Nadia. The technology does, but both are blatantly inspired from Jules Verne, hence the common points. Atlantis is more inspired from Jules Verne in practice, including "A journey to the center of the earth" and "Twenty thousand leages under the sea".
OG.
Isn't Disney's motto "don't fuck with the mouse"??
7 November 2006: The day Americans realized corruption and incompetence weren't addressing 11 September 2001
Sounds bogus.
Pixar had to have been producing the film before Sept 2000 as the sample on the Toy Story 2 DVD was on there.
Second, why did he wait so long? So, he can grab a huge sum of cash? Judges get suspicious when people wait so long to sue and with good reason.
FYI, Disney didn't make the move. It was all Pixar's doing.
Mouse did a lot of work for the Grateful Dead back in the day. The Europe '72 cover art was his. He also won a Grammy for the cover art for one of Steve Miller's albums. Mouse's original work goes for a pretty penny these days and I doubt he is hurting for cash. He may well believe he has a legit complaint. Bio...
As to the ambulatory eyeball, variations of that (usually a flying eyeball) were a common theme in hippie art of the '60s. The motif goes back to Ancient Egypt and are a hot rod staple. Maybe if you combine the eyeball with a Monsters, Inc motif, Mouse would have something, but the monster eyeball alone isn't enough.
FreeSpeech.org
One of his logos is a big eared-mickey-mouse-like, euhm, thing, which can be found here. No problem counter sueing him...
--- Sigmentation Fault - Comments Dumped
It is not so uncommon for someone to look at something and think nothing of it, forget it, then sometime later remember it but in terms of it being some idea they came up with. Forgetting where they first saw it.
It is called Innocent Plagerism. And although it is still wrong, this common human error of doing such, especially when you are probably seeing a number of such ideas and script or treatments, is taken into consideration. It may not stop restitution but can help draw the line between criminal intent and innocent error. And that can mean alot to the one in error, such as respect,...
One of the methods of copyright takes such possibilities into consideration. Thru the writers guild you can copyright such work and it is filed away without anybody seeing the content. The only way to bring it out as proof is by court order. This helps to serve establishing ownership prior to anyone seeing the work.
Note the apparent lack of such a mechanism in regards to the Patent office. Something about timeline of what is done and published and the amount of potential time another has to come along and claim a patent to it. Of course there is the fundamental issue of inventor/authorship of patent subject matter.
Oh wait, the application of copyright methods can address that problem, in regards to proving inventorship/authorship/etc..
Who's the filer of a suit that has validity?
S-T-A, N-L-Y, M-O-U-S-E!
("Hey, you spelled my name wrong! I want double the damages!")
N4st0r, trixx0r h0bb1tz0rz! Th3y st0l3 0ur pr3c10uzz!
We should sue Disney.... for....
(counts on fingers)
EVERY MOVIE THEY HAVE MADE?!
really, most of this is nitpicking and people that want money from disney. i think other than atlantis and nadia, the rest aren't that serious. the monsters inc issue is new, and, like disney wants it, i have never heard of mouse's work. i'm sure that a couple k's will please him, though...
Da comp cant tell u da emotional story.It can give u da exact mathematical design,but whatz missin is da eyebrows. -FZ
I can just see Monsters Inc. 2 now.
Disney Rep: Because we were sued and unable to use the Mike character, we have teamed with Microsoft and the new movie will feature Sully and Clippy from M$ Office.
That was a great show. Ickus rules!
Dangermouse
Reading from a prepared statement, a Disney spokeswoman said...
:)
I saw:
Reading from a prepaid statement, a Disney spokeswoman said...
Well, I guess it is *accurate* either way.
And I'm suprised no one brought up the charater Orbb from Quake3.
And you call yourselves geeks? {Error. Error.}
.
Have you read the moderator guidelines? Well, have you, PUNK? (and I want a Karma: Gnarly option)
I wish I could live in the US. What a great place. Isn't freedom great!? ;-)
Personally I think Disney should do more dark animation. They need to expose their Evil side in a more constructive fashion.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
I bet the visit was a test to see if they needed to buy him out or not. He won't win the case, Disney does their homework.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
"One of the characters was a a green, wisecracking, ambulatory eyeball."
Float like a floatin' eyeball, sting like a floatin' eyeball!
Pixar != Disney
Crystal Meth: Would you ingest somthing made from a poisonous gas and an explosive metal? You do it every day -- Salt!
Programmers show their software to Microsoft, writers show their ideas to Hollywood studios and then they are shocked when their ideas get ripped off.
You would think people would have caught on by now.
Does this look a lot like Captain Harlock or what? I could accept Kimba/Lion King and Atlantis/Nadia were coincidental, but this takes the cake.
SIMBA! The White Lion..
:-)
Kimba!!!
I can't see any resemblance..
One's name starts ith a 'K' and one with and 'S'
TOTALLY different.....
Burma?
I think it is desirable for different creators to reuse characters and ideas from other works. Companies and individuals other than Paramound should be able to create Star Trek fiction and movies. Anybody should be able to sell Darth Vader dolls. Etc. That's the way storytelling has worked until the 20th century.
However, the ostensible reason for the draconian copyright laws we have is to protect the creative people. Individual artists like Stanley Mouse are far and few between, but when they come up, I think companies should be prosecuted and punished to the full extent of the law when they violate the copyright laws they themselves lobbied for (and probably bribed for). If Pixar is guilty, they should have to pay a large fraction of their proceeds to Mouse as punitive damages.
News flash for disney. Isner is a lame ass, who has no clue what art is, nor does he care. Disney needs to be broken up, sold off and disolved. It no longer serves any purpose and only contributes to bad movies. It's a shame Walt's vision and creativity is being dragged through the mud by Isner. Sure Walt borrowed from fables, but he had a high level of quality and demended his movies were entertaining to both kids and parents.
Mr. Mouse must - literally speaking - have been eyeing a U.S. dollar for too long. There's a little green eyeball right there. I wouldn't be surprised if his case turns out to be yet one of false memories. Judging by his site, he's a mediocre artist, and the whole site is dripping with plaguiarism. Take a look at the "original" artwork at http://www.mousestudios.com/gallery/harmonica_wolf .htm
mallrats... 'nuf said
Can't anybody here tell the difference between Pixar and Disney?
Two different companies. One headed by Slashdot hero Steve Jobs, the other headed by Slashdot villian Michael Eisner. One makes the films, the other releases them.
Pixar is the one accused of stealing this idea, not Disney.
But what the hey, let's just bash Disney, cause it's more fun!
You think it looks dumb when Congress tries to understand the internet? I think it looks dumb when slashdotters try to understand Hollywood.
i have a one-eyed monster, so blow me!
Anyone else see a corrorlation from the simpsons episode where bart and lisa discover the original itchy and scratchy "art".....
And... go away.
- I am made of meat.
The thought of Steve Jobs stealing another paradigm scares the living eyeballs out of me.
Thou hast damnable iteration, and art indeed able to corrupt a saint - Henry IV, Act I scene II
"no"
I can't see how this looks like Harlock at all... I mean pirates, yes they both have em. Otherwise, I'm fairly certain that we won't see Disney's character getting drunk and hating the universe, being stoic and morbid for no apparent reason and etc. If Harlock rode some sort of skateboard/snowboard look-a-like then maybe.
I really don't see any similarity other than pirates in space (which is certainly nothing new). Sorry... I can't disagree more.
- I am made of meat.
Actually, when I first saw Treasure Planet I immediately thought of The Swords of the Swashbucklers, a graphic novel/comic series for Marvel Comics back in the mid-1980's.
Of course, let's not forget that this a science-fantasy adaption of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel...
Jay (=
You're bitching about a company keeping their stuff out of public domain where others can use it (and maybe even profit from it)... and then you're bitching that the same company made money from stuff in the public domain???
I dunno who's more confused. Me or you.
- I am made of meat.
If i remember right, the good old AD&D RPG came out before. And wasn't there a thing called beholder, which resembled a big eyeball ? So when does the original author of the AD&D System kicks in ? Would be a funny thing....
According to court documents, Mouse claims that one of the main characters in "Monsters, Inc.," a green, wisecracking, ambulatory eyeball named Mike, strongly resembles a character he drew for a movie treatment titled "Excuse My Dust" that was unsuccessfully shopped around in 1998.
It's a good think you're irrelevant. Now, please.. don't breed. Thanks.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
you... are... stupid.
Got that? ass!
When I watched Aladin, this is the first thing I thought of.
Disney, the great protector of Intellectual property rights, is also one of the greatest users of the public domain and abusers of other peoples property rights.
Go Figure.
There is nothing so silly as other peoples traditions, and nothing so sacred as our own.
Here is a page that has something. Look for "The evil urn", with a pic of the bottle and a description. The show was "Hakusshon Dai Maou". Sorry no pic of the Genie.
I'll keep looking.
There is nothing so silly as other peoples traditions, and nothing so sacred as our own.
fans of the dead and 60s comix art know stanley has been around for ages; indeed, anyone who takes the time to follow the posted links could learn the same.
yes there have been buddy stories since, well, buddies. let's give the guy a chance, though.
good luck, stanley!
It was Pixar not Disney that ripped off Monsters Inc.
Stupid Apple Jobs.
If the above article is indeed factual, the irony presented is simply amazing. Here Disney is, along with the big movie buisness, lobbying for laws that stop consumers from performing the same act performed here.
Pixar is being sued, not Disney. Disney is and always has been little more than a distributor for Pixar's movies. They offer minimal creative input on the stories and take a chunk of the money from the resultant toy market, but that's about the limit of Disney's involvement in things.
The difference is easy to remember if you adhere to the following formula: 100% of Pixar's current output is great, while 95% of Disney's current output is crap.*
(* "Lilo & Stitch" is the notable exception, which is funny because the more I watch it, the more it reminds me of a Pixar film instead of a Disney one.)
I assure you it's YOU who is more confused. :)
His point was something called IRONY. Look it up. If you still don't get it, re-read the many posts on this story that explain it.
in the article, the 1st picture. is it just me or is the green one grabing the blue one's member?
i know sex sells and all, but isn't it normally nakedness with good looking people? then again, maybe there are enough people out there that like to shag the blue shag to make it worth it.
I'll say, especially since the story of Lion King is unashamedly the work of old Bill Shakespeare...it's Hamlet on the Serengeti. I had that figured out 10 minutes into the movie. Of course, this is Disney, so Simba/Hamlet doesn't die in the end, but rather, bows out his little Lion chest to an Elton John song.
It is sometimes said that having only one eye does not allow one to "see 3D". But if you move your head back and forth (wobble), you can get the same information that stereo vision (2 eyes) gives you. Granted, it is not as convenient and does not work well for fast-moving objects and takes training to fine-tune, but it is a decent "work-around" (incase a holographic pop-up ad ever injures one of your eyes :-)
Table-ized A.I.
[From the operation manual for the CI-300 Dot Matrix Line Printer, made
in Japan]:
The excellent output machine of MODEL CI-300 as extraordinary DOT MATRIX
LINE PRINTER, built in two MICRO-PROCESSORs as well as EAROM, is featured by
permitting wonderful co-existence such as; "high quality against low cost,"
"diversified functions with compact design," "flexibility in accessibleness
and durability of approx. 2000,000,00 Dot/Head," "being sophisticated in
mechanism but possibly agile operating under noises being extremely
suppressed" etc.
And as a matter of course, the final goal is just simply to help achieve
"super shuttle diplomacy" between cool data, perhaps earned by HOST
COMPUTER, and warm heart of human being.
- this post brought to you by the Automated Last Post Generator...