MUMBAI:A UK screenwriter‘s lawsuit against The Walt Disney Co. that alleged the animated films Cars and Cars 2 was copied from his own work has been dismissed by a federal judge.

In March last, Jake Mandeville-Anthony had claimed that the Pixar films infringed the copyright on a three-part screenplay titled Cookie & Co, about the true-life adventure race-car driver Michael Owen Perkins, who won a 1988 race, and a second work titled Cars that included a treatment, sample screenplay, 46 animated car character descriptions, 10 cars character sketches, and a marketing and merchandising plan.
 
Mandeville-Anthony said that he sent copies to Disney and also met in person with a Lucas film executive with his works created about 20 years ago.But in a short summary judgment, California federal judge Valerie Baker Fairbank found the works were dissimilar and the claims were barred because the statute of limitations had expired.

In recent weeks, copyright theft lawsuits have been thrown out over ABC‘s Modern Family, Sony‘s You Don‘t Mess with the Zohan, and NBC‘s My Name is Earl.