Titanic director James Cameron and French filmmaker Claude Zidi have been found guilty of plagiarism after a drawn-out legal battle over authorship of movie, True Lies.

Cameron based his hit 1994 flick on French film La Totale, after buying the movie rights from Zidi in 1991. However, Screenwriter Lucien Lambert claimed La Totale was based on his script Emilie, written in 1982.

Lambert had lost a previous case against the pair when he was unable to prove when his script was written. But with new evidence from actress Sylvie Jolie, the French Appeal Court decided to award the unknown screenwriter an undisclosed chunk of the $15 million Zidi pocketed from the hit American remake. Joly claimed she had received Lambert342200231s script in 1982, a decade before La Totale. Lambert342200231s lawyer called the verdict: 342200234A victory of David over Goliath342200235.

Incredibly, although La Totale was a hit in France, Lambert only became aware of the film's existence when he saw it on TV seven years after its theatrical release.

Despite his windfall, the 72-year-old342200231s lawyer saw the result as a partial victory: "Unfortunately, Mr. Lambert has been robbed of his American dream. Every screenwriter would love to have their name on the credits of a Hollywood film, and it never happened".

Although named in the case, Cameron will escape without having to stump up any cash. "It is not very nice for James Cameron, who is really not at fault in all of this, but a moral judgment has been made nonetheless," said Meyer. "When you buy something, you have to know where it has come from."

Lawyers for Cameron and Zidi are expected to appeal the decision.
From World Movie Magazine
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