Disney is being sued by a screenwriter who claims it stole his ideas for the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movies.
Royce Mathew has filed a lawsuit alleging he planned the story of a ghost pirate ship in the eighties.
Mathew says he put together storyboards with the idea, which he filed with the US Copyright Office and pitched his idea to movie studios.
He also says drawings of a boat called the Black Pearl, which is the name of the ship in ‘Pirates…’, were in his pitched plans.
But Disney, and its distributors Buena Vista, have dismissed his claim saying it has “no merit”.
Mathew seeks an injunction against the film franchise and unspecified damages.
