Writer Ruslan Zakriev succeeds in initiating plagiarism lawsuit in Chechnya

The Supreme Court (SC) of Chechnya ordered the Grozny court to accept for consideration the lawsuit initiated by writer Ruslan Zakriev for recognition of the authorship of the script for the US "Avatar" film.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in 2015, Ruslan Zakriev announced his intention to file a plagiarism lawsuit for a billion US dollars against James Cameron, a director of the "Avatar" film. Ruslan Zakriev believes that the film director borrowed a part of his novel "The Secret Weapon". He corresponded with the James Cameron's office and received a warning about a countersuit of slander.

The Zavodskoi District Court of Grozny, to which Ruslan Zakriev appealed, left the writer's claim without movement, but the Supreme Court of Chechnya cancelled its decision. "The SC ordered the Zavodskoi District Court to accept the case for consideration. So, court hearings will be scheduled in the James Cameron's case," reported Dmitry Kazatsker, a plaintiff's lawyer. According to him, that time Ruslan Zakriev was seeking compensation for moral damage in the amount of 10 million roubles, the TASS reported on May 10.

"I received three letters from James Cameron's assistant Tom Clancy. They recognize the full identity of my novel and their film, but claim that I stole ideas from them, although my novel had been written and published long before the film was released. Now I have to prove in court that I am right, otherwise it will turn out that I am a thief," explained Ruslan Zakriev.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 11, 2019 at 07:40 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.