Jim and John Thomas say Disney’s hold on the franchise expires this week. Disney becomes an accused on the front of copyright termination for the first time.
Jim and John Thomas, the brothers who wrote the 1987 action film Predator, has filed a lawsuit to confirm that the rights to the franchise are being successfully reclaimed. In federal court in California, the two say that Disney – which now owns 20th Century Fox – stands in the way.
The Thomas brothers want to use the termination clause of copyright law, which allows authors to cancel transfers after waiting a period, usually 35 years for newer works. Given the time frame, the studios could lose the franchise rights to many iconic works from the 1980s.
Predator Arnold Schwarzenegger plays three sequels plus the spin-off film series, Alien vs. Predator. Disney reportedly has a reload with 10 Cloverfield Lane director Dan Trachtenberg at the helm.
Such plans by Disney could face an obstacle in the form of termination. According to the complaint, the effective termination date for their screenplay (originally titled “Hunters”) is April 17, this Saturday.
Jim and John Thomas say they have already served a notice of termination in 2016 – and have heard no objection for four and a half years.
As set out in the complaint, ‘Then, in early January 2021, advocates of the defendants unexpectedly contacted the advocates of the plaintiffs and disputed the notice of termination as presumably untimely, based on a theory that the award of the 1986 screenplay Predator allegedly, films qualify for the special, delayed ‘window’ in 17 USC § 203 (a) (3), intended for awards for ‘book publication’. “
The Thomas brothers say in response that they have terminated alternative notice of termination with later effective dates.
“On March 25, 2021, various attorneys presented a second ‘counter-notification’ to the plaintiffs for the defendants. They reiterated the defendants’ alleged objection to the termination notice and added a variety of additional alleged arguments about the alternative notices in an attempt to the copyright on the copyright on the copyright law, ”the complaint continues.
The Thomas brothers are now seeking explanatory relief. They are represented by Marc Toberoff, who was a specialist in copyright termination and especially the Friday the 13th writer in a court case (pending appeal).