‘Zootopia’ Lawsuit Against Disney Dismissed

As we have been reporting, a lawsuit was filed against Disney for allegedly stealing the idea of the movie Zootopia. The suit was filed by Gary Goldman via Esplanade Productions. Goldman complained that he originally pitched the Zootopia idea to Disney and was turned down but they went on to produce the idea.

California Federal Judge, Michael Fitzgerald, ruled that Esplanade failed to include enough of Goldman’s evidence in their initial complaint and what was submitted was not sufficient to claim copyright infringement against Disney.

Here is the official order to dismiss from Judge Fitzgerald:

“Perhaps the most specific and detailed allegation is that the two protagonists present an odd pair — one a predator, the other prey, one optimistic, the other a cynical pessimist. But this is a cliché of the buddy cop genre. See, e.g., Men in Black (Columbia Pictures 1997) (streetwise, charming youngster is paired with a stodgy old coot); Rush Hour (New Line Cinema 1998) (straight-laced Hong Kong detective is paired with wisecracking, reckless LAPD detective); The Heat (20th Century Fox 2013) (straight-laced FBI agent is paired with an unconventional Boston cop). The differences between the character designs outnumber the similarities. Most obviously, almost none of the above pairings actually include the same animals. A hyena is not a fox (and in reality is a much larger animal than a fox) and a grizzly bear is not a water buffalo. Additionally, the Looney characters are unclothed while the Zootopia characters are all elaborately costumed. And the animation style itself is very different between the two sets of characters: whereas the Disney characters are typically cute and appealing, the Looney characters evoke a darker, seedier aesthetic… The two character designs bear little resemblance to one another.”

While the dismissal motion has been granted for Disney, it was “left to amend.” This means that Esplanade will have another chance to gather more evidence and the lawsuit may be revisited.

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