Disney Sued Again Over Zootopia by Total Recall Screenwriter

Disney is headed to court over Zootopia again.

Total Recall screenwriter Gary Goldman has filed a second lawsuit against the Walt Disney Company claiming that the House of Mouse stole his “artwork, dialogue, characters (both character traits and designs), themes, settings, and plot structure,” Deadline reports. The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.

This is the second time Goldman’s Esplanade Productions has sued Disney over the Academy Award-winning film. In March of last year, Goldman sued in federal court. His complaint at that time was nearly identical, claiming that in addition to the artwork and other elements, Disney also stole the title Zootopia. The primary difference between this new suit and the federal one is that instead of a copyright claim, Goldman is seeking breach of implied fact contract complaint.

Goldman claims, as he has previously, that he pitched the idea for his version of Zootopia to executives with Disney in both 2000 and 2009. He also claims that he had several sit-down meetings with Disney over the idea and even included side-by-side comparisons of his concepts with Disney’s finished film as evidence of the alleged intellectual theft. It’s evidence that Goldman included in his previous federal suit as well.

That evidence wasn’t enough to convince a federal judge last year. Goldman’s original lawsuit was dismissed with the judge writing that Esplanade Productions had not provided enough evidence of infringement.

– Excerpt from an article written by Nicole Drum for ComicBooks.com. Find the full article here.