160 years and two court cases

       The original  1841 U.S. Supreme Court case arose from the events subsequent to revolt of Africans on the Spanish ship Amistad in 1839. Two months after the Africans escaped their chains and killed most of the Spanish, the boat was found off the coast of New York. The Supreme Court considered the question of whether the Africans should be given their freedom in America or sold into slavery. Former U.S. President John Quincy Adams argued before the Supreme Court in favor of giving the Africans their freedom.
       On Friday, December 12th, 1997 Dreamworks  movie, Amistad, directed by Steven Spielberg and  based on an actual 1839 revolt by Africans aboard a Spanish slave ship, opened in major markets nationwide. Four days earlier, a federal court in Los Angeles denied a motion to enjoin the film, pending a trial to determine whether or not characters, scenes, and other aspects of Amistad were illegally copied from the BAarbara Chase-Ribouck's 1988 book Echo of Lions. On Monday, February 9, plaintiff Barbara Chase-Riboud settled with Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks SKG. Chase-Riboud complimented Dreamworks for their film, Amistad and, as part of the settlement, dropped her plagiarism suit against the studio. This site explores the historical and legal issues and characters involved in the two disputes arising out of the Amistad revolt.
 
 

The First Amistad Case: A Struggle for Freedom.
United States v. The Amistad, 1841

• The Amistad revolt (1839)
•  A brief guide to Sierra Leone

• The brief overview of  original Amistad case (1841)
• United States v. The Amistad, 40 U.S. 518 (1841)
 
• Biographies of the key Supreme Court Justices involved in the historic Amistad case. The first Amistad case was decided by Justice Story and had a dissenting opinion by Justice Baldwin The Legal Information Institute has prepared brief biographies of these two judges and collected other opinions written by them.   LII also has a biography/opinions page on former Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun, who appears in the Dreamworks film, Amistad.

• The full text of John Quincy Adams' argument before the Supreme Court in 1841

• Biographical resources on Roger Sherman Baldwin
• Mystic Seaport's Baldwin page
• The "Political Graveyard's" entries on Baldwin

• Legal issues - Amistad I
• The law of salvage
• The law of slavery in 1841
• The development of the law since United States v. The Amistad
 
 

The 'Second' Amistad Case: 'Outright Plagiarism' or 'Who Owns History?'
   Chase-Riboud v. Dreamworks, Inc., 1998

• The brief overview second Amistad case
• What are Ms. Chase-Riboud's chief arguments?
• What are Dreamworks' chief arguments?
• Public documents from Chase-Riboud v. Dreamworks, Inc.
• Plaintiff's (Chase-Riboud) complaint (incomplete version)
• Plaintiff's complaint (complete version) (requires Acrobat Reader)
• Plaintiff's reply in support of her preliminary injunction motion (requires Acrobat Reader
• Plaintiff's reply to alleged similarities between Echo of Lions and Black Mutiny (requires Acrobat Reader
• A tentative draft of the District Court's December 8 ruling, denying Ms. Chase-Riboud's motion for a preliminary injunction
 
• Barbara Chase-Riboud's book, Echo of Lions (1988)
• Who is Barbara Chase-Riboud?
• Other books about the Amistad incident
• Dreamworks' film Amistad (1997)
• Who is Steven Spielberg?
• What is Dreamworks SKG?
 
• Legal issues - Amistad II
• Copyright law
• Internet copyright references from the Legal Information Institute
• The exclusive rights of an author (17 U.S.C. §106)
• But what about historic facts, ideas, etc. (17 U.S.C. §102(b))
• Remedies available to a copyright holder in cases of infringement (17 U.S.C. §§ 501-511)
• Recent copyright decisions involving analogous disputes (decisions courtesy of the LOIS Law Library)
• Hoehling v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 618 F.2d 972 (2d Cir. 1980)
• Miller v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 650 F.2d 1365 (5th Cir. 1981)
• Nash v. CBS, Inc., 899 F.2d 1537 (7th Cir. 1990)
• Civil procedure:
•  What is a preliminary injunction?
• Apple Computer, Inc. v. Formula International, Inc., 725 F.2d 521 (9th Cir. 1984).
• What are the pleadings (complaint and answer)?
 
• Related links
• Special thanks

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