A Los Angeles graphic artist is suing director Spike Lee for what he contends is copyright infringement over posters used to promote the film Oldboy, according to court papers obtained on May 28.
Juan Luis Garcia alleges that Lee’s production company, Forty Acres and a Mule Filmworks, did not pay him for rights to use several posters that Garcia says he created for Oldboy.
The lawsuit, filed on May 27 in Los Angeles federal court, alleges copyright infringement and alteration of copyright information, stemming from what Garcia contends is lack of credit in a notice printed on the posters.
Oldboy was Lee’s 2013 remake of the South Korean cult thriller. The remake starred Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen, and Samuel L. Jackson.
Garcia wrote an open letter to Lee at the time of the film’s release in November 2013, claiming he was offered a low rate from the ad agency handling the film, which he said he declined.
Lee responded on Twitter, saying he had never heard of Garcia and did not hire him.
The suit seeks unspecified damages.
The South Korean original version of Oldboy was the second installment of the Vengeance trilogy, all three directed by one of the country’s most popular directors, Chan-wook Park. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance was the first film in the trilogy; Lady Vengeance bookended the three-title series.
