'Cowboys & Aliens' Comic Author Sues Universal for Copyright Violation

Zade Rosenthal/Universal Galleries and DreamWorks II Distribution Co. LLC Cowboys & Aliens keeps leading to head aches for Universal and DreamWorks. The Jon Favreau-directed summer time sci-fi western disappointed in the box office, grossing just $175 million worldwide despite costing about this much to create. The galleries happen to be hit having a suit with a comic artist who claims the film infringes his 1995 story, also known as Cowboys & Aliens.our editor recommends'Cowboys & Aliens': Who'll Have the Pain'Cowboys & Aliens' Harrison Ford Forms a 'Star Wars' Score (Video) Steven John Busti sued in U.S. District Court in Texas on Wednesday against Universal, DreamWorks, production company Platinum Galleries and it is chairman Scott Mitchell Rosenberg. Busti states he released a preview of his story in 1994 and adopted it using the actual Cowboys & Aliens within the The month of january 1995 problem of Bizarre Fantasy #1, but he didn't register all of them with the copyright office until September 2011. He alleges that in 1997, Rosenberg and Platinum created a 1-sheet having a cowboy being chased by an alien, a marketing effort that brought to Universal and DreamWorks purchasing film privileges and Platinum creating a picture novel series in 2006 that looked nearly the same as his work. "Accused' Cowboys & Aliens graphic novel consists of striking commonalities to Complaintant's copyrighted Cowboys and Aliens work including an alien spaceship zooming overhead the primary cowboy character, [and] the spacecraft being discovered by Native American players (particularly Apache) who're then assaulted," states the complaint, first reported by TMZ. The film was launched in This summer but Busti anxiously waited until August to transmit instructions to Universal worrying concerning the supposed violation. He states the studio never responded. We've arrived at to Universal for comment. Cowboys fighting aliens might appear just like a novel concept but, because this Wall Street Journal article highlights, there's a lengthy good reputation for the sci-fi/western juxtoposition. Still, the Universal movie required a lengthy, windy road to the screen, as THR noted this past year, so possibly a number of Busti's work ended up in. There's a really high bar for copyright violation, though. Email: Matthew.Belloni@thr.com Twitter: @THRMattBelloni PHOTO GALLERY: View Gallery Hollywood's Greatest Blunders Jon Favreau Cowboys & Aliens