Did Lassetter/Pixar Steal the Idea For CARS??

[Captain Chaos]

Ok, I just read something on another site that irked me... On another fan site, someone posted that John Lassetter KNOWING produced the movie CARS after someone else had copyrighted the same exact movie long before.. Supposedly this person went to NASCAR for backing and NASCAR refused... This person had their characters, script and movie copyrighted... I know this is more than liklely bogus nonsense, especially since that person has been called out and cannot produce one shred of evidence... But, has anyone else heard this???

 

[imagineer boy]

Every time a Pixar movie comes out, someone claims that Pixar stol their idea. Remember the problems with Finding Nemo where someone complained that Pixar stole the idea for a book about a clown fish he had? Just BS... Ignore it.

 

[Captain Chaos]

Every time a Pixar movie comes out, someone claims that Pixar stol their idea. Remember the problems with Finding Nemo where someone complained that Pixar stole the idea for a book about a clown fish he had? Just BS... Ignore it.

I do remember when someone claimed to have created Mike from Monster's Inc and Pixar stole it.. I know it is hogwash.. I just fiugured I'd ask here cause I trust all of you.. And I know most of you would actually research this issue to see if it were true...

 

[ReallyBigKid]

I think "cars" looks a lot like the exxon commercials. Reminds me of the Exxon ads and cars they put up on the monitors at the tommorrowland raceway in Disneyland and that was years before the movie... muhahaha. Who says that the raceway doesn't already have a cars theme?

 

[kcnole]

heck, some guy sued Disney saying they stole his idea for Pirates of the Carribean. People will sue over anything and claim they did it first hoping to make money from a giant.

 

[SteveUK]

Ok, I just read something on another site that irked me... On another fan site, someone posted that John Lassetter KNOWING produced the movie CARS after someone else had copyrighted the same exact movie long before.. Supposedly this person went to NASCAR for backing and NASCAR refused... This person had their characters, script and movie copyrighted... I know this is more than liklely bogus nonsense, especially since that person has been called out and cannot produce one shred of evidence... But, has anyone else heard this???

Have you read your post? If something has been copyrighted, then that means there are registered records of the idea - that is what copyright means. Therefore the two comments of 'copyrighted' and 'can produce no evidence' are incompatible. If a copyright exists, proof of it exists.

 

[Epcot82Guy]

Almost every successful authorship brings a slew of people claiming prior authorship.


and it will keep people like me employed... :lookaroun

 

[Captain Chaos]

Have you read your post? If something has been copyrighted, then that means there are registered records of the idea - that is what copyright means. Therefore the two comments of 'copyrighted' and 'can produce no evidence' are incompatible. If a copyright exists, proof of it exists.

I know this... That is why we asked the person to produce something that we can find.. Obviously we could not search the government's copyright pages if we didnt have a working title or something to go on... Every time we asked for some evidence or to send us in the right direction so we could find it ouorselves, that person backed out each and every time... I am taking it as a joke and utter nonsense...

 

[wannab@dis]

Have you read your post? If something has been copyrighted, then that means there are registered records of the idea - that is what copyright means. Therefore the two comments of 'copyrighted' and 'can produce no evidence' are incompatible. If a copyright exists, proof of it exists.

I don't think you can even copyright an idea... such as a movie. Maybe certain character drawings or the script, but not the idea. Right? :veryconfu

 

[Turkey Leg]

True you would have to copyright an entire story, characters, etc. You can't copyright . . . "A movie about a bunch of talking Cars " too vague. Plus Lasseter is a Car fanatic, he has always loved Cars and the whole allure of route 66. This is his kind of movie. Can't wait personally to check it out!
:sohappy:

 

[PencilTest]

I don't think you can even copyright an idea... such as a movie. Maybe certain character drawings or the script, but not the idea. Right? :veryconfu

Okay, technically speaking, you can copyright an idea. You don't even have to register it with the government to claim that it's yours (but you should, 'cause any legal problems will be a lot easier to handle). However, you gotta put it down on paper and date it if it's gonna hold any water whatsoever. Plus, you really have to prove you submitted that idea to the person who allegedly stole it. And even if you don't submit it, if it sits on a shelf gathering dust and someone else comes along with the same idea, well, your outta luck there, too.

See, I could come up with the sweetest idea for a movie right now and furiously scribble it down on a notepad. Once I do that, I have an intellectual copyright on it. But if I sit on it and don't let anyone else see it and Pixar comes out with a movie just like it four years from now, I'm up a creek. I didn't let 'em see it, so how can I claim that they stole it? The court would tell me "Sorry 'bout your luck", and move on. Now, if I had sent it to John Lassetter back in '98, got a rejection letter back, and then the same movie came out eight years later, I may have a case.

 

[joshwill]

Ok, I just read something on another site that irked me... On another fan site, someone posted that John Lassetter KNOWING produced the movie CARS after someone else had copyrighted the same exact movie long before.. Supposedly this person went to NASCAR for backing and NASCAR refused... This person had their characters, script and movie copyrighted... I know this is more than liklely bogus nonsense, especially since that person has been called out and cannot produce one shred of evidence... But, has anyone else heard this???

he really stole it from the chevron commercials

 

[wannab@dis]

Copyright law covers only the particular form or manner in which ideas or information have been manifested, the "form of material expression". It is not designed or intended to cover the actual idea, concepts, facts, styles, or techniques which may be embodied in or represented by the copyright work.
...
For example, the copyright which subsists in relation to a Mickey Mouse cartoon prohibits unauthorized parties from distributing copies of the cartoon or creating derivative works which copy or mimic Disney's particular anthropomorphic mouse, but does not prohibit the creation of artistic works about anthropomorphic mice in general, so long as they are sufficiently different to not be imitative of the original

Well... I'm not sure they have a case to stand on. According to Wikipedia, they can't copyright the idea of talking cars in a movie. Funny that an example based the Mouse himself was given. :lol:

 

[wannab@dis]

he really stole it from the chevron commercials

Be careful using the word "stole"... I think that's going a little far. :wave:

 

[joshwill]

Be careful using the word "stole"... I think that's going a little far. :wave:

sarcasm is lost in this place sometimes

 

[wannab@dis]

sarcasm is lost in this place sometimes

That it is.... :lol:

:wave:

 

[Epcot82Guy]

Okay, technically speaking, you can copyright an idea. You don't even have to register it with the government to claim that it's yours (but you should, 'cause any legal problems will be a lot easier to handle). However, you gotta put it down on paper and date it if it's gonna hold any water whatsoever. Plus, you really have to prove you submitted that idea to the person who allegedly stole it. And even if you don't submit it, if it sits on a shelf gathering dust and someone else comes along with the same idea, well, your outta luck there, too.

See, I could come up with the sweetest idea for a movie right now and furiously scribble it down on a notepad. Once I do that, I have an intellectual copyright on it. But if I sit on it and don't let anyone else see it and Pixar comes out with a movie just like it four years from now, I'm up a creek. I didn't let 'em see it, so how can I claim that they stole it? The court would tell me "Sorry 'bout your luck", and move on. Now, if I had sent it to John Lassetter back in '98, got a rejection letter back, and then the same movie came out eight years later, I may have a case.

Actually, there's a bit more to it. To keep it true to the interpretations of legislative history, you cannot copyright an idea. Ideas are the realm of patent law. Copyright protects original works of authorship, but that means the protection covers the work itself, not the ideas underlying the work.

Now, characters have been considered copyrightable. However, first, you MUST secure an actual copyright to invoke protection by the statute (i.e. to sue). Second, a court will look at the similarities between the copyrighted work and the alleged infringing work. It takes a pretty high amount of similarity (mostly in actual written aspects such as dialogue or drawings in animation) to be considered infringing.

Your example of sending the idea is actually more of a patent analysis, but it does have some application to copyright. If you scribble it down in sufficient detail to be considered an authorship (which a script would), and you send it, you will have an extremely strong case for infringement IF copyrighted the idea before. You can claim infringement, but you cannot bring a claim under the statute unless you secured the copyright (which is extremely cheap, easy, and quick to do - unlike a patent application).

Now, having said all this, there is also common law infringement available, and I have no idea what California law says on that.