Alfred v. The Walt Disney Co., 17-cv-02729 (D. Colo 2017)
Two writers claim that The Walt Disney Company copied their script to produce the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise. The writers, A. Lee Alfred II and Ezequiel Martinez, Jr., claim that Disney willfully infringed their original copyrighted expression of an original screenplay that they submitted to the company for possible production and was entitled Pirates of the Caribbean. In the complaint, the writers allege that they submitted the screenplay to Disney while working on another project for them, the ultimately never produced Red Hood. The writers claim that when Disney informed them they would pass on the project, Disney did not return their screenplay for over two years, contrary to industry practice.
For further evidence, the claim cites an experience when the writers were in Disney producer Brigham Taylor’s office and saw their script on the coffee table. When they asked if it was to be discussed, “they were quickly ushered out of the office to wait . . . . When they returned to the office, a short time later, all materials that had been on the coffee table had been moved and the meeting ended abruptly.” At the time the original screenplay was returned to the writers, Disney was already in production of the film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
The complaint does mention that in 2000, Taylor informed the two script writers “that the idea of a film based on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride had been suggested over the years and that [Disney] had considered making a film based on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride recently.” The writers claim that the screenplay that was submitted is substantially similar in total concept and feel of the works of the Pirates franchise through the plot, theme, dialogue, mood, setting, pace, sequence. The screenplay owners are suing for actual damages of willful copyright infringement and have