What are Dreamworks chief arguments?
In order to defeat Ms. Chase-Riboud’s claim of copyright infringement, Dreamworks must show that it did not copy any original work from Echo of Lions. To meet this burden, Dreamworks advances two main arguments. • No one owns a copyright to history. Dreamworks argues that any similarities between Echo of Lions and its film grow out of the fact that they are grounded in the same historical incident. Since no one can own a copyright in “mere facts,” any elements of Echo of Lions which arise from the historical record are not Ms. Chase-Riboud’s property. Dreamworks may use them freely. • Echo of Lions itself contains copied elements. Dreamworks alleges that there are over 80 similarities between Echo of Lions and the 1953 novel Black Mutiny, by William Owens. It includes among these similarities many of the similarities Ms. Chase-Riboud alleges exist between Echo of Lions and its film.
