There is an update on Chris Wozniak’s lawsuit against DC and Warner Bros. Discovery over The Batman. A judge in New York ruled that neither party ripped off Wozniak’s spec written in 1990 as he has claimed since the film came out in 2022.
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US District Judge Paul Engelmayer said in a 45-page decision that the penciler and writer infringed intentionally on copyrights registered to DC, according to The NY Post.
“The story’s use of the Batman character and the surrounding protected elements is an act of clear and blatant copyright infringement,” the decision reads.
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Channeling DC’s countersuit against Wozniak for writing an unsolicited Batman story, Judge Engelmayer added Wozniak had no consent and his story titled “The Ultimate Riddle” and “Blind Man’s Hat,“ “liberally exploits – indeed, is rife with” DC elements and characters.
The similarities between The Batman and his story were written off as “too commonplace” to support Wozniak’s claims.
Similarities include, “serial killers who are loners bent on destroying society, villains who taunt pursuers with ‘clues and riddles,’ and moments of ‘clarity or epiphany’ that propel villains to crime,” notes The Post.
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They add Engelmayer “cited movies including ‘Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith’ where Anakin Skywalker succumbs to the dark side of the Force and becomes Darth Vader.”
Wozniak has said from the beginning WB obtained his script treatment from an email he sent Batman producer Michael Uslan and rewrote it into an early adventure as opposed to the retirement caper he had drafted.
The judge rejected that claim as “wholly speculative” despite shot-for-shot, beat-for-beat examples Wozniak explored in YouTube videos that were taken down.
Lawyer for Wozniak, Terry Parker, rebutted in an email, “We respectfully disagree with the court’s decision and are considering our next steps.” “A lawyer for Warner Bros and DC Comics had no immediate comment,” added The Post.