Archive notice: This article was originally published on May 29, 2015. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
When George Lucas and Ed Catmull decided in the mid-1980s not to poach artists from each other – thereby depressing salaries because competition no longer took place – no one knew about it at first.
However, when it became clear what was happening there – not least through various data leaks – The Walt Disney Co., DreamWorks Animation and Pixar, among others, came under fire from those who regard oligarchic structures in purely capitalist Hollywood as unlawful – which they also are according to their understanding of the law.
A decision has now been made: U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh dismissed the lawsuit filed by DreamWorks Senior Character Effects Artist Robert Nitsch, ImageMovers Digital production engineer David Wentworth and Digital Artist Georgia Cano (Rhythm & Hues, Walt Disney Feature Animation/ImageMovers Digital).
The reason the lawsuit was thrown out was that the four-year deadline for such complaints had expired – you can read the full reasoning here in the original. Other competition complaints are still ongoing, but require renewed complaints, mass actions and negotiations.