[UA] The Lost Room

[Robert Rossney]

Humanoids Publishing?

Okay, first off, Humanoids Publishing didn't create L'INCAL.  Humanoids 
Publishing was founded by Fabrice Giger in 1988.  He founded it at the 
same time that he bought Les Humanoides Associes from its original 
founders (Moebius, Druillet, and one other guy whose name I forget 
now).  The only purpose of Humanoids Publishing is to market LHA's 
intellectual property in the US.  It wasn't involved in the suit.

It was Moebius and Alessandro Jodorowsky who created L'INCAL back in 
1974.  Les Humanoides Associes published it. 

LHA (now owned by Giger) and Moebius sued Besson for about 24 million 
euros, plus a percentage of the film's net.  The court sided with 
Besson, who argued that the suit was based on "negligible fragments of 
the drawn oeuvre."

Since the plaintiffs were only able to point to a couple of images (and 
none of the story) from L'INCAL that were recreated in a 2+ hour movie 
that credited (and paid) the man who drew them, it's hard to see this 
case as a slam-dunk in the face of artists whose work gets 
appropriated.  I think that the plaintiffs might have fared better if 
they hadn't demanded such a huge award (9 million euros in damages?), 
and if Jodorowsky -- the writer -- hadn't been bundled in with them.  
(Nobody argued that THE FIFTH ELEMENT used any of L'INCAL's story, just 
the images.)  Their big win was that the court didn't award Besson the 
100K euros he'd countersued for.

This has been your BD geek moment for the day.


Rachel Young wrote:

>> Greg and John, you maybe want to watch this when it
>> airs and have a lawyer on speed-dial.
>>
>> -Chad
>
>
> I hate to be the Devil's Advocate here but if the creator of L'Incal
> (Humanoids Publishing) couldn't get a dime from The Fifth Element (Luc
> Besson) then there is little hope for anyone else...
>