files/pictures/picture-35.jpgNew York Federal Judge Sidney Stein tossed out a lawsuit against 20th Century Fox, the Walt Disney Co. and others claiming that the PERCY JACKSON books and films were stolen, according to
The Hollywood Reporter . Robyn and Tony DiTocco filed the suit alleging that PERCY JACKSON was lifted from their books THE HERO PERSEUS: A MAD MYTH MYSTERY and ATLAS' REVENGE: ANOTHER MAD MYTH MYSTERY. The books follow Percy John Allen, a teen who discovers that he is descended from the Greek god Perseus.
However, the judge felt the suit didn't meet the substantial similarity standard. He sited that the DiTocco's books are written in the third person, while the PERCY JACKSON books are in first person. Percy John Allen is a high school and college student in the books, while Percy Jackson is 12-16. In the DiTocco's books, Hermes tells tales of Greek myths, while in the PERCY JACKSON books, Percy learns about Greek myths at Camp Half-Blood. Judge Stein noted similarities between the characters, but were all based around common ideas. For the instance, the same first names could be accounted to being derived from Perseus, which is a character in the public domain.
