Disney Is Being Sued Over Likeness Use Of Peter Cushing
Image Source: StarWars.com
Disney is the target of a lawsuit stemming from the eight-year-old Star Wars movie Rogue One. The film used a CGI-likeness of the late actor Peter Cushing as a Grand Moff Tarkin cameo. Now, Cushing’s friend, Kevin Francis, claims that Disney didn’t secure the proper permission to use his face. Disney brought up the contract for the original Star Wars film that Cushing's signed in 1977 as a defense for using his likeness in 2016’s Rogue One. Additionally, Disney claimed it paid £28,000 or $36,000 to Cushings’s estate.
Disney sought to dismiss the case in December, but Master Francesa Kaye declined the request. Their next step was an appeal which was rejected by Judge Tom Mitcheson. He remarked, “I am also not persuaded that the case is unarguable to the standard required to give summary judgment or to strike it out. In an area of developing law it is very difficult to decide where the boundaries might lie in the absence of a full factual enquiry.” Last year was marked by Hollywood strikes which raised concerns about the misuse of AI by studios, so how this case plays out could shape the future of the entertainment industry.
Image Source: IGN
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