Disney, James Cameron fend off copyright lawsuit over 'Avatar'

The Walt Disney

05/10/2026 16:13

By Blake Brittain
Oct 5 (Reuters) - A federal judge in Los Angeles has dismissed a copyright lawsuit from a 3-D animator who alleged that Disney DIS.N and James Cameron copied his science fiction story for the blockbuster "Avatar" sequels "The Way of Water" and "Fire and Ash."
US District Judge George Wu said in a ruling published on Friday that Eric Ryder's "KRZ" was not similar enough to the films to sustain his infringement case
Spokespeople and attorneys for Ryder and Disney did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the ruling on Monday
Ryder lost a similar lawsuit over the first "Avatar" movie in 2014
Ryder said in his December complaint that he collaborated with Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment to develop a movie based on "KRZ" in the early 2000s
The complaint said that the "Avatar" series, like "KRZ," includes "anthropomorphic beings, a vast oceanic setting, and a sinister, Earth-based corporation engaging in environmentally harmful mining operations on the moon of a gas giant planet called Europa"
Wu ruled that "KRZ" and the "Avatar" sequels "share certain general features, but are not substantially similar"
The case is Ryder v. Cameron, US District Court for the Central District of California, No. 2:25-cv-11854.
For Ryder: Daniel Saunders of Kasowitz LLP
For Disney: Kelly Klaus of Munger Tolles & Olson
     
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(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington)