Disney Sued Over High School Musical

blackcauldron85 · Post by **blackcauldron85** » Sat May 12, 2007 5:21 am

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/107982.html (via http://www.laughingplace.com)

I think that this is rediculous. The title "High School Musical" is very generic. If you watch any show or movie about a high school, there's always the jock, the nerd, the drama queen, the brain, etc. And, for those who may use this non-Disney HSM instead of paying more $ for Disney's version- I hope they lose money- if I went to a play thinking that it'd be the Disney version, and it really was some imposter, I'd ask for my money back.

singerguy04 · Post by **singerguy04** » Sat May 12, 2007 5:40 am

I wouldn't go either way, but that's just me.

People are always out to for ways to scam you. Hopefully, theatre producing people nation-wide will regognize the disadvantage of putting up this production.

carter1971 · Post by **carter1971** » Sat May 12, 2007 5:59 am

I'm sure I'll be in the minority here, but I'm going against Disney on this one, simply because the guy who wrote the original play had the domain name highschoolmusical.com registered beforehand. I'm sure Disney would have liked to have that domain name, and after finding that it was taken, they were aware that a stage production by that name existed. While the idea may be a very generic and unoriginal one, they didn't have to steal the original writer's name. By doing so, they cost him any chance of having it produced professionally. I'm no lawyer, of course, and I doubt this guy can fight Disney's high-priced army of lawyers, but what Disney did here is just morally wrong. I know this is Disney site and we are all fans, but I don't see how anyone can accuse someone of a "scam" when he wrote - and named - his play two years before the movie aired.

blackcauldron85 · Post by **blackcauldron85** » Sat May 12, 2007 6:24 am

I'm sure there have been other movies with the same name created before, and no one minded. And, "High School Musical" is generic...maybe Disney already had the script done before they found out about the other one. And, I doubt they went online to find a domain for HighSchoolMusical.com before they started to make their movie.

If you go on highschoolmusical.com, you can hear clips of some of the music. Wow. It's very different from Disney's version.

This is just like the "The Lion King" vs. "Kimba the White Lion" & "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" vs. "Nadia".

Here's a link to an article & video from a Texas TV station about this situation: http://cbs11tv.com/investigators/local_ ... 23453.html

Jasmine1022 · Post by **Jasmine1022** » Sat May 12, 2007 6:50 am

I also have to go against Disney on this one. I know that i may not have been their fault, but they still should have checked. The last they can do it give him SOMETHING, because they ruined all chances of him ever seeing his HSM go far. I know that it's a generic name, and a generic concept, but since it IS generic, it's best to check to see if anyone else had the same generic idea!

SpringHeelJack · Post by **SpringHeelJack** » Sat May 12, 2007 7:03 am

Well, it's not "an imposter"- as was pointed out, this guy had the title first. And for all I know, this could be a better show than the Disney version, which wouldn't be hard to do, honestly. I'm also going for legit theater in this case.

Skellington or Sparrow · Sat May 12, 2007 9:55 am

maybe it's because i've never given it a chance, but i can't stand high school musical. still, if i was going to a school musical thinking i was seeing something like The Lion King and come out having seen some.. weird and cheap immitation i'd be pissed. so i'd probably do the same for High School Musical.

SpringHeelJack · Post by **SpringHeelJack** » Sat May 12, 2007 10:10 am

Skellington or Sparrow wrote:maybe it's because i've never given it a chance, but i can't stand high school musical. still, if i was going to a school musical thinking i was seeing something like The Lion King and come out having seen some.. weird and cheap immitation i'd be pissed. so i'd probably do the same for High School Musical.

But it's not a "cheap immitation". It had the name first. If anything, Disney's would be the cheap immitation.

Timon/Pumbaa fan · Post by **Timon/Pumbaa fan** » Sat May 12, 2007 10:17 am

carter1971 wrote:I'm sure I'll be in the minority here, but I'm going against Disney on this one, simply because the guy who wrote the original play had the domain name highschoolmusical.com registered beforehand. I'm sure Disney would have liked to have that domain name, and after finding that it was taken, they were aware that a stage production by that name existed. While the idea may be a very generic and unoriginal one, they didn't have to steal the original writer's name. By doing so, they cost him any chance of having it produced professionally. I'm no lawyer, of course, and I doubt this guy can fight Disney's high-priced army of lawyers, but what Disney did here is just morally wrong. I know this is Disney site and we are all fans, but I don't see how anyone can accuse someone of a "scam" when he wrote - and named - his play two years before the movie aired.

Yes, and in addition to this, any Disney fan should know how Disney is very serious and strict about their own copyright laws. Disney would never let somebody make a movie about a mouse named "Mickey", or a film called "Lady and the Tramp" or "The Lion King", which I think could be labeled as "pretty generic" as well.

I'm not "rooting" for anyone here, I just think that the other side have more reason behind their claim than other stupid lawsuits.

Disneyfreak1990 · Post by **Disneyfreak1990** » Sat May 12, 2007 6:52 pm

this is stupid. taking out a lawsuit just because someone made something that was just like their product, name and all. this has happened in the past before people. look at The Lost World, if someone says that most kids will think of Jurassic Park: Lost World if the person is thinking of the original version. or look at remakes that are the exact same think thing but with new people. why don't they sue those while they're at it.

Sotiris · Post by **Sotiris** » Sat May 12, 2007 7:00 pm

Yeah, take Disney's copyright.

No more HSM adaptations/versions

Chernabog_Rocks · Post by **Chernabog_Rocks** » Sat May 12, 2007 7:41 pm

I'm suprised Escapay hasn't given us his thoughts on this

I don't mind the Disney High School Musical, but I have the songs stuck in my head since my cousin is one of those rabid fans so it's turned me off of it a bit hearing the songs go over and over and over in my head

MK Sharp · Post by **MK Sharp** » Sat May 12, 2007 9:13 pm

Whether by accident or design, it does look as though Disney is the party in error here.

Still, I'm sure the whole thing will be settled nicely out of court and Mr Cozby will be crying all the way to the bank.

Escapay · Post by **Escapay** » Sun May 13, 2007 1:21 am

Chernabog_Rocks wrote:I'm suprised Escapay hasn't given us his thoughts on this

To be honest, my first thought was "No wonder it sucked, it's a cheap imitation!"

In Disney's defense ( *collective gasp* ), the filmmakers only used "High School Musical" as a working title and didn't intend for the film to be called that. But when nobody could come up with anything, they stuck with HSM. If it were up to me, I would have called it "The Ryan and Sharpay Adventures"

Still, I'm siding with Cozby. He's got verifiable proof that his original work was called "High School Musical" first, that he devised the (rather simplistic and cliched) plot first, that it had performances *two years* before the Disney version was aired, and there are witnesses (original actors and of course anyone who saw the performances) that can back him up. Plus, he's had the domain name registered (and it's actually a pretty good site.), and in an article linked to his site, it makes note that Disney even tried to buy the domain from Cozby and his wife in February 2006, but they refused to sell.

Anyway, here's a link to the summary for Cozby's High School Musical.

Escapay

yamiiguy · Post by **yamiiguy** » Sun May 13, 2007 7:11 am

High School Musical puts the “comedy” in musical comedy. It’s the night of the “big game” at Herbert Hoover High School. It’s the night of the “big show” too. Will “nerdy, artsy guy” Marty McCoy get to see his work performed? Will football hero Johnny Rocket win the heart of the diva he loves? Will conniving Principal Philbert (Don’t Call Me Phil!) Tillsley keep his job?

That's the summary. Though Marty McCoy sounds alot like Back to the Future's Marty McFly

BigFish · Post by **BigFish** » Mon May 14, 2007 6:30 pm

Carter1971, you are exactly right in everything you said. And anyone familiar with Cozby's High School Musical will assure you that the similarities go beyond just the title and stock characters. There are a couple of very specific plot points that occur just the same way in both shows. Even if Disney didn't somehow steal the idea and it is just a coincidence, Disney should have been more responsible when producing High School Musical - minimal research would have showed them that a show called High School Musical already existed.

And the possibility that the idea was somehow passed along and eventually reached Disney (without Disney even knowing the idea was stolen) is feasable, as Cozby's HSM was produced more than once in Texas and even aired on Ft. Worth cable.

blackcauldron85 · Post by **blackcauldron85** » Tue May 15, 2007 5:19 am

In all fairness to Disney, "High School Musical" is one of the most generic titles. Ever. Many movies have had the same name as other movies.

Here's an article about the phenomenon:
http://www.slate.com/id/2118602/

the Slate.com article wrote:Jimmy Miller, a producer for the Will Ferrell Kicking & Screaming, said that his team was not aware of the Noah Baumbach title when they came up with their own.

the Slate.com article wrote:Film titles cannot be copyrighted

Here's an article talking about how there are 2 "Grindhouse" movies:
http://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/00008310.html
(There's a link in that site to another site- knowing the nature of "Grindhouse", there may or may not be inappropriate stuff there...so use your discretion.)

I know that Cozby's HSM isn't a movie, but I just wanted to show how there often are movies with the same names.

There are other examples (just type in "movies with the same title" in a search engine...

BigFish · Post by **BigFish** » Thu May 31, 2007 2:52 pm

I never thought "High School Musical" was such a great name in the first place.

Cierra_Dancer · Post by **Cierra_Dancer** » Thu May 31, 2007 3:16 pm

The only thing that I can think of is that Disney might have stole this idea. I mean apparently there are points in both scripts that are very similair, there are similair characters. hmm... Maybe somebody affliated with Disney somehow saw this show and thought it would be a good idea and took it for their own benefit. Possibly they thought the show wasn't going to go anywhere are get out, so they decided to let it go. I don't know, I'm kind of confused about the whole thing. Or they both may have happened to have this idea. Why did this story just get out now though, it seems that Crozby or whatever his name should have said something earlier.

BigFish · Post by **BigFish** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 3:35 pm

Well Disney's HSM just came out in 2006, lawsuits take a lot of time, and the only reason Playbill got wind of this story is because of Cozby's NYC reading of his HSM. It seems to me like he wasted no time.

In fact, i just did a little google searching, and you'll find a little bit of news coverage (mostly local, it seems) about this lawsuit from a while back. I guess there wasn't much to report about it until now.

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