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Pixar/Disney in "Monsters Inc" Ownership Scuffle

Posted by chrisd on from the is-this-thing-on dept.

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."

4 of 234 comments (clear)

  1. Re:The irony here is amazing by Temsi · · Score: 5, Informative

    Nothing new here. Disney has been stealing stories for years. For example, both The Lion King and Atlantis were ripped off from Japanese Anime. In fact both were ripped off from the same Japanese studio, which pretty much said "we can't sue, Disney has enough money to keep us in court until we're dead".
    Now they rip off this guy without even acknowledging his work. It's pitiful. It's just awful what greed can do to people.

    The saddest thing is that Disney hasn't had an original idea since before Walt was iced.

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  2. Re:This isn't the first time... by tiltowait · · Score: 5, Informative

    You mean this episode. But here's a real-life example.

  3. Classic Rock by DeadBugs · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

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  4. Re:Sounds bogus. by kill-hup · · Score: 5, Informative
    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.

    If you read the article, you'll see that some of Mouse's prior art dates back to the 1960's:

    Drawings attached to the complaint, dating from the early 1960s, pair a small, two-legged eyeball with a large, dull-witted monster character in a "buddy" relationship. The lawsuit claims that Disney and Pixar also appropriated the "buddy" relationship theme from Mouse's work.

    Unless Disney has been working on this story for 40 years, I think Stanley Mouse has a case.

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