Warner Bros Entertainment didn’t steal the plot for its 2022 blockbuster “The Batman” from a author who created a story in regards to the Caped Crusader three a long time earlier, a federal judge in Manhattan ruled on Wednesday.
US District Judge Paul Engelmayer also said the author Christopher Wozniak infringed copyrights belonging to DC Comics, which employed him as a contract artist in 1990 when he wrote “The Ultimate Riddle,” later retitled “The Blind Man’s Hat.”
“We respectfully disagree with the court’s decision and are considering our next steps,” Wozniak’s lawyer, Terry Parker, said in an email.
The 2022 film “The Batman” grossed greater than $772 million worldwide. ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection
Wozniak claimed he was “stunned” to learn that “The Batman” was a near copy of “The Ultimate Riddle,” with the Riddler terrorizing a Gotham City beset by crime and controlled by a corrupt banking cartel.
But in a 45-page decision, Engelmayer said Wozniak intentionally and without consent lifted material from DC Comics’ works to create his story, which “liberally exploits –indeed, is rife with” Batman characters and plot elements.
“The story’s use of the Batman character and the encompassing protected elements is an act of clear and blatant copyright infringement,” the judge wrote.
Engelmayer also said key similarities between the works — serial killers who’re loners bent on destroying society, villains who taunt pursuers with “clues and riddles,” and moments of “clarity or epiphany” that propel villains to crime — were too commonplace to support Wozniak’s copyright claim.
For the latter, the judge in a footnote cited movies including “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith,” where Anakin Skywalker succumbs to the dark side of the Force and becomes Darth Vader.
Christopher Wozniak said he created a story in regards to the Caped Crusader in 1990 titled The Ultimate Riddle.”
Engelmayer also rejected Wozniak’s “wholly speculative” claim for a way Warner Bros might need gotten access to his story.
A lawyer for Warner Bros and DC Comics had no immediate comment.
Wozniak sued Warner Bros in October 2022. DC Comics, which has hundreds of copyrights dating to 1941 for Batman works, sued Wozniak two months later.
“The Batman” starred Robert Pattinson as Batman, Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman and Paul Dano because the Riddler.
Zoe Kravitz and Robert Pattinson in a scene from “The Batman.” AP
It received mixed to positive reviews, and grossed greater than $772 million worldwide, in accordance with Box Office Mojo.
The cases are Wozniak v Warner Bros Entertainment Inc and DC Comics v Wozniak, US District Court, Southern District of Latest York, No. 22-08969.
