How a Massachusetts man’s panda drawings led to a federal indictment
Federal prosecutors say that Jayme Gordon first saw a trailer for the DreamWorks Animation film Kung Fu Panda in 2008, and concocted a scheme that the 51-year-old Randolph man thought would make him millions.
It did not go according to plan.
Gordon was indicted on wire fraud and perjury charges Monday, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Massachusetts, for allegedly fabricating and backdating drawings that looked like Kung Fu Panda characters, and then suing DreamWorks for copyright infringement in an attempt to collect a multi-million dollar settlement.
Gordon pleaded not guilty in U.S District Court and was released on $10,000 unsecured bond Monday afternoon. Attorney Robert Griffin, who is representing Gordon, told Boston.com his client “maintains his innocence and is looking forward to his day in court.’’
DreamWorks’ Po, the giant panda, and Master Shifu, the red panda, star in the 2008 animated film Kung Fu Panda.
According to the indictment, Gordon first saw a trailer for Kung Fu Panda, released in June 2008, several months before the movie hit theaters. After seeing the trailer, prosecutors say, Gordon revised his pre-existing “Panda Power’’ drawings, renaming them “Kung Fu Panda Power,’’ to make them appear similar to characters in the movie.
Then, in 2011, Gordon sued DreamWorks, claiming copyright infringement on his works.
According to Gordon’s 2011 complaint, he developed the works in the 1990s and registered his “Kung Fu Panda Power’’ property with the U.S. Copyright Office in 2000.
The drawings and story, which Gordon said he originally developed, included “a Kung Fu fighting giant panda who likes to eat, his companion, a rare small red panda who also is a Kung Fu fighter, and a Kung Fu fighting super group known as the “Five Fists of Fury’’ that consists of a tiger, crane, mantis, monkey, and a venomless snake,’’ per his complaint.
DreamWorks’ 2008 film also features a giant panda and a red panda, both of whom practice Kung Fu, as well as the Kung Fu fighting group “Furious Five,’’ which includes a tiger, crane, mantis, monkey, and viper.
At one point during the two-year-long suit, Gordon proposed the production company settle with him for $12 million.
Gordon’s characters, which he said he developed in the 1990s.
Dreamworks rejected the proposal. And, according to the indictment, Gordon’s scheme soon began to unravel.
During the evidence-obtaining process of the suit, prosecutors say it was discovered that Gordon’s drawings, dated from 1993 to 1994, were copied from a Disney Lion King coloring book, which wasn’t published until 1996.
Upon this discovery, Gordon agreed to dismiss his suit with no settlement, but DreamWorks had already spent about $3 million defending the suit.
Monday’s indictment also alleges that Gordon “lied repeatedly during his deposition, and destroyed computer evidence that he was required to produce in civil discovery.’’ Additionally, prosecutors say that the panda characters and story Gordon first created in the 1990s, aside from their “superficial similarities,’’ have little in common with Kung Fu Panda.
A 1996 Disney coloring book, which prosecutors say Gordon traced to create his characters.
The charge of wire fraud carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of $250,000 and restitution, while the perjury charge carries with it up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.
The indictment notes, however, that most sentences for federal crimes do not reach the maximum penalty.
In a statement, U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz said that Gordon’s alleged actions “warp our federal judicial system and must be addressed with appropriate criminal sanctions.’’
“Our intellectual property laws are designed to protect creative artists, not defraud them,’’ Ortiz said.
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