- Disney is being sued by a pair of Colorado screenwriters
- A. Lee Alfred II and Ezequiel Martinez Jr. claim the initial Pirates of the Caribbean film contains similarities to the spec screenplay they submitted
- They claim their sreenplay wasn’t returned until more than two years later
- By that time, production was already underway on the first Pirates film
A couple of writers have come forward to say that they came up with the character for Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow.
A. Lee Alfred II and Ezequiel Martinez Jr. are now suing the Walt Disney Company for allegedly looting the idea for its billion-dollar Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
The duo claim that they created the first ‘funny’ pirate and then Disney stole their original screenplay to create Pirates.
Pirates in film, while handsome or good-looking, have not been depicted as having a sense of humor, until ‘Captain Jack Sparrow’ in the Pirates franchise,’ writes attorney Elizabeth M. Thomas in the complaint filed Tuesday in Colorado federal court.
‘This ‘new’ pirate, who is funny, not feared, and repeatedly referred to as a ‘good man’ has not only created a new pirate character, but created a Pirates franchise that has been wholly centered on this new pirate character.’
Alfred and Martinez say the silly swashbuckler portrayed by Johnny Depp is a direct ripoff of their conception of Davy Jones in a screenplay called Pirates of the Caribbean.
According to Deadline.com The pair say that the screenplay was submitted to Disney by their producer Tova Laiter in 2000.
Disney passed on the project they didn’t get their screenplay returned to them for more than two years – well after Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was already in production.
The writers say the film copies themes, settings, plot, characters and dialogue from their original script and maintain the similarities have continued throughout the entire Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
However, the plaintiffs, having just registered ‘their original works of authorship with the US Copyright Office on October 3rd,’ do not offer any explanation as to why it took them nearly two decades to recognize a copyright infringement.
A Disney spokesman issued this statement in response to the suit: ‘This complaint is entirely without merit, and we look forward to vigorously defending against it in court.’