Randolph man found guilty of fraud after claiming DreamWorks stole his work for Kung Fu Panda
A Randolph man was found guilty of fraud Friday after falsely claiming DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc., stole the characters and story for the animated movie Kung Fu Panda from him, the U.S. Attorney’s office said in a statement.Jayme Gordon, 51, was found guilty of four counts of wire fraud and three counts of perjury in connection with a fraud scheme to obtain a multi-million dollar settlement from Dreamworks, according to the statement.The U.S. Attorney’s office said that after Gordon saw the trailer for the animated movie, Kung Fu Panda, in 2008, he changed his “Panda Power” drawings and story and renamed it “Kung Fu Panda Power” in an effort to make his work seem more similar to the pandas seen in the trailer. In February 2011, Gordon filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the company, stating it had stolen his drawings for the movie. The defendant later suggested that DreamWorks settle the suit and pay him $12 million, a proposal the company turned down, according to authorities.During the two-year civil lawsuit, Gordon intentionally deleted evidence on his computer that he was ordered to present in discovery and lied during his deposition, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. He also falsified and backdated drawings of characters similar to those in the movie that served as a support for his lawsuit.Authorities said the panda characters and story the defendant created during the 1990s had little in common with the movie apart from a superficial resemblance. During the course of the litigation, DreamWorks learned that Gordon had traced some of his drawings from a Disney Lion King coloring book, according to the statement.
The left image is from a 1996 Disney coloring book, while the right image is one of Gordon’s sketches, registered in 2000.
Some of Gordon’s sketches, dated 1992 or 1993, were copied from this coloring book, which was only published in 1996, proving he drew the images after 1996 and backdated them, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. When the tracing was discovered, the defendant dismissed the suit.
DreamWorks had already spent more than two years and about $3 million fighting the fraudulent suit, according to authorities. In December 2015, Gordon was indicted on wire fraud and perjury charges.
During his trial, Gordon claimed he had not traced his drawings from the coloring book but that Disney had copied his drawings and based the Lion King character Timon on his sketches, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
Gordon will be sentenced on March 30.
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