Cowboys and Aliens makers sued by comic book author
A US writer has taken legal action against the makers of Hollywood film Cowboys and Aliens, claiming he had the idea prior to the 2006 graphic novel on which the film is based.
Steven John Busti's court claim states the 100-page work published by Platinum Studios and its creator Scott Mitchell Rosenberg bears "striking similarities" to his own work.
Platinum and film studios Universal and DreamWorks have declined to comment.
Daniel Craig starred in the film.
Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde were also among the cast of the movie which topped the US box office in June.
However, it is considered to have been a financial dud barely earning back its reported $163m (£103m) budget.
Mr Busti says that he came up with the concept of a group of 19th Century cowboys who fend off an alien assault in a Wild West backdrop in 1994.
The story was printed in an edition of a comic anthology called Bizarre Fantasy.
His legal action claims that the Platinum publications, released more than 10 years later, contained characters which resemble his own, including an alien commander called Morguu.
The Hollywood studios bought the rights to make a Platinum version.
Mr Busti failed to register to copyright for his original story until last year, but his lawyer insisted copyright is obtained as soon as material is created.