Disney and filmmaker James Cameron have secured the dismissal of a copyright lawsuit alleging that Avatar: The Way of Water and Avatar: Fire and Ash copied elements from another science-fiction story.
Avatar Copyright Lawsuit Dismissed
As reported by Bloomberg, writer and complainant for the case, Eric Ryder, informed the court that he intends to appeal the decision rather than amend his complaint again. U.S. District Judge George H. Wu subsequently issued a final ruling dismissing the case on October 1.
Ryder alleged that the two Avatar sequels infringed upon his story KRZ, which he developed between 1996 and 2001 and presented to Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment in 2000. Lightstorm ultimately declined to develop the project.
Among the similarities cited by Ryder was the harvesting of an animal-derived substance capable of extending human life. In Avatar: The Way of Water, humans hunt tulkun for amrita, a substance that halts aging. Ryder argued that the concept was also central to KRZ.
The court determined that many of the alleged similarities were either overstated, expressed differently in the two works, or based on broad ideas and familiar science-fiction concepts that are not protected by copyright. The judge also found no substantial similarity between the works’ protectable elements, including their plots, characters, dialogue, settings, moods, and themes.
Cameron had developed a detailed treatment for the original Avatar by 1995, several years before Lightstorm received Ryder’s work. Ryder previously sued Cameron and Lightstorm over the first Avatar, but a California court ruled that Cameron’s treatment predated KRZ and that the works were not substantially similar. That decision was upheld on appeal.
The federal court initially dismissed Ryder’s claims in July while allowing him another opportunity to amend the lawsuit under an intermediate-copying theory. By choosing to appeal instead, Ryder cleared the way for the court to enter its final ruling in favor of Cameron, Disney, and the other defendants.
The case is Ryder v. Cameron, No. 2:25-cv-11854, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
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