Copyright & Colourable Imitation – Inside Out Or Upside Down?

Damon Pourshian wrote a script and made a short film titled "Inside Out" when he was a student at Sheridan College's Faculty of Film and Television in 2002 in their Media Arts Program ("Sheridan"). Sheridan is generally considered to be well-known for its animation program. Animation studios, the likes of Pixar Animation Studios ("Pixar") and The Walt Disney Company ("Disney"), have a reputation for recruiting students from the program. In not one, but two actions, Pourshian has sued Disney (along with Disney's related companies), Pixar and the American Broadcasting Company, Inc. ("ABC") for copyright infringement of his script and short film. The suits were advanced in the California Northern District Court in California (U.S.A.) (case NO, 5:18-cv-3624) and the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Canada) (2019 ONSC 5916), respectively.

Pourshian's Inside Out tells the story of the reactions of a boy named Lewis to events in his everyday life, through anthropomorphized representations of his bodily organs that influence (and react to) his actions, as seen from the inside of his body. His brain is the command center and his internal characters—brain, heart, colon, stomach and bladder—communicate and squabble with each other. His short film was shown widely at Sheridan and won the inaugural People's Choice award at Sheridan's Media Arts Award Show.

Disney/Pixar's Inside Out is about a girl named Riley and her reactions to events in her everyday life. Disney/Pixar's Inside Out shows Riley's outside world as well as inside...