The movie Avatar was a huge hit at box offices all around the world this year, but even when the movie was still being shown, there were rumors about how the storyline could have been 'pirated' from similar science fiction stories. Chinese writer Zhou Shaomou recently filed a lawsuit with the Beijing First Intermediate People's Court against director James Cameron and his production team for copyright infringement. The court has agreed to hear his case.

Zhou Shaomou, from Heng County in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, began writing his 1.2 million word science fiction epic The Saga of the Blue Crow in 1991. The novel was posted in installments on a website in China, and the story was concluded in 1997. In January of this year, while Avatar was being shown all over the world, Zhou was advised by friends that the storyline from the movie is very similar to what he had created in his novel. Initially, Zhou decided to file a lawsuit on behalf of his copyright. However, Zhou said he found more than 10 areas where Avatar’s storyline matched 80% of the content of his novel.

In March of this year, Zhou had filed a suit against director James Cameron and his blockbuster global hit with the Beijing First Intermediate People's Court. Zhou is alleging copyright infringement, and asking for compensation totaling 1 billion RMB.

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