French producer Besson guilty of plagiarising action classic

Anybody notice this? This is AN EXACT QUOTE from a Paris judicial ruling.

"An appeals court in Paris ruled that “Lockout” had “MASSIVELY borrowed key elements” "

Wonderful. I never knew Jeremy Kyle was a judge in Paris. What does that even mean? Does plagiarism require a large construction crane because "lifting" someone's text requires huge amounts of physical exertion? One would think that any judicial ruling could state the point more specifically, or that a translator could be bothered to come up with some better expression.

I hate it when people use so much as a gram of my work. A kilogram would be beyond the pale. I am certainly glad that John Carpenter has won this case and I hope he gets a "ton" of cash for it.

I turned to the Mrs when we were watching lock out and said that this reminds me of escape from new york.

Who cares, it happens everyday. Just like Reservoir Dogs is actually City On Fire

a “block on artistic freedom” ah ah ah!

Haven't seen it, but it sure sounds like it 'borrowed' from the classic. Anyway, I would credit Besson more with having written The Big Blue and The Professional than by citing The Fifth Element.

Saw Lockout awhile back. And now that they mention it, I do remember thinking that it reminded me of another movie. Coincidence, IMO. BTW, 5th Element is in my top 10.

I wonder if the film Bum Rap - A Noir Fantasy took any ideas. Somehow it's structure reminds me of Kubrick's 2001, with a kind of video game sensibility.

So many films and TV programmes are rip offs of what went before. Give the original writers and creators some credit, and royalties, and it won't be a problem. It's when people rip off and lie about it, that's the problem.

Coincidence, IMO.

No. Besson himself said he meant it as an hommage to the great classic that he loved... He made a bet with the law one more time. Note that he'll pay the royalties to "StudioCanal", as they produced "lock out", but they are also a reccurent partner of Besson's projects.

I hate it when people use so much as a gram of my work.

Me too, and that happened a million time... and you wrote 'people', little people. The thing is I couldn't sue a million time , a million different persons for each time one copied page, photo, podcast, short video or my part in a collective work document. BUT I'd love to be plagiarized by Besson or another big one for a huge scale movie. I wouldn't even need hiring an agent to get me a deal, and I'd negociate my payment with a judge later, at the best conditions for me. That doesn't happen because I don't write movies. I should start today.

John Carpenter is a very cool guy. Live, performing the music he wrote for his films... https://youtu.be/mp1_UrG-g_w

Anybody notice this? This is AN EXACT QUOTE from a Paris judicial ruling. "An appeals court in Paris ruled that “Lockout” had “MASSIVELY borrowed key elements”

One would think that any judicial ruling could state the point more specifically, or that a translator could be bothered to come up with some better expression.

Not sure what your beef is here, 5SpeedRacer5. Totally acceptable use of the word "massively."

Sample definition: "large in scale, amount, or degree: a massive breakdown in communications; massive reductions in spending. 4. solid or substantial; great or imposing: massive erudition"

Note the bit where it says "large in degree."

But a spokesman for Besson and Europacorp said that “the judges did recognise that there were many differences between the films—and that in their totality the movies were quite different.

Yes... the difference was the actors used, the character's names, the location of the prison, the vehicle used by the rescuer to break into the prison, and it was the President's daughter instead of the President himself. Other than that... same plot.

Hah like the Cabin in the Woods case.

Was there ever a case over "Battle Beyond the Stars/The Magnificent Seven/Seven Samurai"? How about "Outland/High Noon"?

Or how about a concept where at its heart there is a dashing starship captain, his First Officer and ship's surgeon who work for a Federation, fly about in a warp capable ship and carry out missions of exploration and adventure. I'm course talking about the "Forbidden Planet", shamelessly plundered by Gene Roddenberry for "Star Trek" :)