Sylvester Stallone is being sued for copyright infringement by a screenwriter who says The Expendables is “strikingly similar” to a script he wrote and submitted to the U.S. Copyright Office in June 2006.
Papers filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, contends that Stallone’s 2010 picture shares the same villain, plot about mercenaries, and opening sequence as his The Cordoba Caper, reports Reuters.
Because the script was being shopped around Hollywood from 2006-2009, Webb believes Stallone and co-writer David Callaham had ample time to lift key elements from Caper. The lawsuit says, “There can be no dispute that Stallone and/or Callaham had access to and copied protectable elements of the screenplay.”
Webb seeks unspecified damages and a court order prohibiting further infringement that would arise in the Expendables sequel. Callaham, Millennium Films, Nu Image Films and Lions Gate are also named in the lawsuit.
