Court Clears Avatar Movies From Copying Claim

A federal judge ended a copying claim against two Avatar sequels. The case involved Disney and filmmaker James Cameron. Eric Ryder said the films borrowed from his sci-fi tale. He called it KRZ. The claim covered Avatar: The Way of Water and Avatar: Fire and Ash. The judge dismissed the case on October 1. Ryder said he would appeal instead of fixing his complaint.

Ryder built KRZ from 1996 to 2001. He gave it to Lightstorm Entertainment in 2000. Lightstorm did not want to make it. He pointed to one shared idea. Both works used an animal-based material that could keep humans from aging. In Avatar: The Way of Water, people hunt tulkun for amrita. Ryder said that idea sat at the heart of KRZ.

The court saw the match as too thin. It said many points were stretched. Some looked different in each work. Others were common sci-fi ideas. Copyright does not protect broad themes. The judge also found no real match in plots, characters, dialogue, settings, moods, or themes. Those are the parts that can be protected.

Cameron had a detailed plan for the first Avatar by 1995. That came before Lightstorm got Ryder's story. Ryder had sued over the first film too. A California court said Cameron's plan came first. It also said the works did not look alike. That result survived appeal. The federal court first dismissed Ryder's claims in July. It gave him a chance to rework them under a different copying theory. He chose to appeal. That move let the court close the case for 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.