Disney wins dismissal of 'Cars' copyright-infringement suit

The Walt Disney Co. persuaded a federal judge in Los Angeles to throw out a copyright-infringement lawsuit aimed at its "Cars" and "Cars 2" animated films.

British writer Jake Mandeville-Anthony sued Disney in March, claiming his copyrights for "Cookie & Co." and "Cars/Auto Excess/Cars Chaos" were infringed. His works were based on the true-life adventures of Michael Owen Perkins and Brian Mullineaux, who won the 1988 London to Sydney Vintage Car Endurance Rally, Mandeville-Anthony said in his complaint.

In a July 27 order, U.S. District judge Valerie Baker Fairbank dismissed the case. She determined that Disney showed that the protectable elements of plot, sequence of events, pace, characters, theme, mood and setting "are not substantially similar as a matter of law" to Mandeville-Anthony's.

Mandeville-Anthony was represented by Nicholas Allen Kurtz of Leesburg, Virginia's Dunlap Grubb & Weaver PLLC. Disney was represented by in-house counsel Alexander A. Myers and David R. Singer, and Sanford M. Litvack of Washington's Hogan Lovells US LLP. Litvack is Disney's former general counsel.

The case is Jake Mandeville-Anthony v. The Walt Disney Co., 2:11-sv-02137-VBF-JEM, U.S. District Court, Central District of California (Los Angeles).

(Published by Bloomberg - August 3, 2011)