Harlan Ellison says he's dying, plans last convention appearance

[Pearl@32]

We saw him the very first D*C we went to, the one where Jewel created the 'flipoff' for Nathan. We went to the parade and quickly bolted for the room. Back then, there were no lines, you just showed up. Ellison had the room before Jewel, Nathan, and Adam. Ellison was puzzled why his panel that started off with 20 or so people had more and more people coming in as the panel went on. He was a little chagrined to see these 'browncoats' filling his panel not to see him, but the people coming in after him. He did laugh about it and said he'd hope they would enjoy the panel. And we did.

Harlan Ellison is a crusty, often bitter, often angry, very, very talented writer. He told some great stories and kept all entertained. Ann really enjoyed the panel, as did I.

I was totally at that FF panel! I was a little late though so I missed all the "Birds."

[TinkTanker]

I was totally at that FF panel! I was a little late though so I missed all the "Birds."

I didn't see you there.

[Spooky]

Harlan Ellison claims Justin Timberlake's In Time rips him off

The groundbreaking, award-winning science-fiction godfather is suing Fox to prevent the release of Andrew Niccol's sci-fi thriller, claiming that too much is too similar to his own "Repent, Harlequin! Said The Ticktockman."

And Ellison doesn't just want to get paid for what he sees as copyright infringement—he wants to stop In Time's October 28th release and force New Regency and Fox (the producer and distributor, respectively) to burn every copy of the film.

In a complaint filed yesterday, Ellison claims that Niccol's film is based on his 1965 work, itself "one of the most famous and widely published science fiction short stories of all time." And, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the suit claims that both stories are about a ...

"dystopian corporate future in which everyone is allotted a specific amount of time to live." In both works, government authorities known as a "Timekeeper" track the precise amount of time each citizen has left. ... The complaint goes on to list similarities in the features of the universe as well as the plot surfaces—the manipulation of time an individual can live, the type of death experienced by those whose time runs out, rebellion by story protagonists, and so forth.

Ellison has reportedly been fending off Hollywood interest in Repent, Harlequin for years but recently allowed "a third party" to adapt it into screenplay form, hoping to sell it—and In Time jeopardizes that potential.

Most copyright infringement lawsuits get dismissed from court, but given Ellison's standing, the pervasiveness of the work itself, and the fact that Ellison has sued on similar grounds before with positive results—-The Terminator has a "with acknowledgement to the works of Harlan Ellison" credit, after the author sued, claiming that James Cameron ripped off Ellison's Outer Limits episodes "Soldier" and "Demon with a Glass Hand"—it's entirely possible this won't go away any time soon.

http://blastr.com/2011/09/harlan-ellison-claims-jus.php

[TinkTanker]

Harlan Ellison sues everyone. Has he ever won?

[Spooky]

After the original "Terminator" was released in 1984, [Harlan Ellison] sued the filmmakers saying that portions of the film had been lifted from his works. The well-known science-fiction writer eventually won the case. Although, as part of the agreement, the principals were not allowed to discuss the terms of the settlement, one thing is known: Ellison was to receive screen credit at the end of the film "gratefully acknowledging his work" on all showings of the movie, including television, videocassettes and laser discs. ("Terminator 2" will not carry the credit to Ellison because the sequel doesn't draw from Ellison's work.)

http://tinyurl.com/3huyega

[Spooky]

And... (looks like he's been pretty successful)

On April 24, 2000 Ellison sued Stephen Robertson for posting four stories to the newsgroup "alt.binaries.e-book" without authorization. The other defendants were AOL and RemarQ, internet service providers whose only involvement was running servers hosting the newsgroup. Ellison claimed that they had failed to stop the alleged copyright infringement in accordance with the "Notice and Takedown Procedure" outlined in the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Robertson and RemarQ first settled with Ellison, and then AOL likewise settled with Ellison in June 2004, under conditions that were not made public. Since those settlements Ellison has initiated legal action and/or takedown notices against more than 240 people who have distributed his writings on the Internet, saying, "If you put your hand in my pocket, you'll drag back six inches of bloody stump".[32]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlan_Ellison#Copyright_suits

[TinkTanker]

How did that suit against Star Trek (the JJ Abrams movie) go?

[Spooky]

http://trekmovie.com/2009/03/18/rumor-control-harlan-ellison-not-suing-over-new-star-trek-movie/

Rumor Control: Harlan Ellison NOT Suing Over New Star Trek Movie

TrekMovie actually talked to Mr. Ellison about this a month later in December of 2007, and he dispelled it. We got Ellison on video saying that he looked into it and there was no Guardian of Forever in the Star Trek movie, and he went on to say the Internet 'bombed out of existence' and refered to people who spread rumors on it as 'idiots'  along with many other colorful metaphors. Ellison went on to say he thought JJ Abrams was "a brilliant writer" and that Abrams is "does not need to steal" from him.

[Spooky]

He's a cantankerous old ben tiansheng de yidui rou ain't he?

[TinkTanker]

From the 4Chan thread: Chuck you Harlan you fat autistic piece of gao se, If you stop me seeing Amanda Seyfried in those tight dresses and cute little haircut I swear to god I will wreck your gao se.