Harlan Ellison - Copyright Suits

Copyright Suits

Ellison alleged that James Cameron's film The Terminator drew from material from Ellison's "Soldier" and "Demon with a Glass Hand" episodes of The Outer Limits. Hemdale, the production company and the distributor Orion Pictures, settled out of court for an undisclosed sum, and added a credit to the film which acknowledged the work of Ellison. Cameron objected to this acknowledgement, and has since labeled Ellison's claim a "nuisance suit".

On April 24, 2000, Ellison sued Stephen Robertson for posting four stories to the newsgroup "alt.binaries.e-book" without authorization. The other defendants were AOL and RemarQ, internet service providers who owned servers hosting the newsgroup. Ellison alleged that they had failed to halt copyright infringement in accordance with the "Notice and Takedown Procedure" outlined in the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Robertson and RemarQ first settled with Ellison, and then AOL likewise settled with Ellison in June 2004, under conditions that were not made public. Since those settlements Ellison has initiated legal action and/or takedown notices against more than 240 people who have allegedly distributed his writings on the Internet, saying, "If you put your hand in my pocket, you’ll drag back six inches of bloody stump".

A lawsuit involving the film In Time, which Ellison contended plagiarizes his short story "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman" was withdrawn after Ellison viewed the film. As part of the agreement to dismiss his lawsuit, Ellison has also agreed that each party will bear its own attorneys' fees.