“Cowboys & Aliens” Studios Sued For Copyright Infringement
Scott Rosenberg involved in legal problems and accused of theft? What are the odds?
Cowboys & Aliens studios Universal Pictures and Platinum Studios have been sued by cartoonist Stephen Busti, who claims that the graphic novel and Jon Favreau movie infringes on his strip ‘Cowboys and Aliens’, which appeared in Bizarre Fantasy #1 in 1994.
TMZ reports that Busti’s story was spotlighted in a 1995 issue of Comic Shop News on the same page that ran a story about Platinum’s Scott Rosenberg. The studio executive later presented the Cowboys & Aliens concept to the studio.
Platinum produced a Cowboys & Aliens poster in 1997 and sold the rights to the property to Universal and Dreamworks. It did not appear in graphic novel form until 2006.
Related articles
- Comic author sues over ‘Cowboys & Aliens’ (today.msnbc.msn.com)
- SUED! Comic Book Writer Slams Cowboys And Aliens For Infringement (perezhilton.com)
Huh. Interesting. “Bizarre Fantasy #1” came out in April of 1994. You know what else came out in 1994? “Oblivion,” the cowboys-and-aliens themed SF film that I scripted for Full Moon. Granted, that came out later in 1994 than BF#1. On the other hand, I wrote about it in detail in November of 1993 in “But I Digress.” Between November and April, plenty of time to rush a comic into production to take advantage of the concept. Perhaps Stephen Busti should thank his lucky stars that Full Moon hasn’t sued his ass…yet.
I’m wondering where the ‘Inception’ law suit is. There’s a Disney comic story which is so dead on it’s scary.