Actress suffers early setback in lawsuit over use of face in ‘Avatar’

A federal judge in Los Angeles dismissed Q'orianka Kilcher's false endorsement claim against James Cameron and Disney over the design of Neytiri in 'Avatar,' though he let her amend the complaint. U.S. District Judge Wesley Hsu ruled that nothing in the films explicitly claims Kilcher endorsed or was affiliated with the project, which the Rogers test requires for such claims to survive.

Kilcher's attorney countered that Cameron himself conceded using her facial geometry, pointing to a 2005 sketch based on a photo of her as Pocahontas. Cameron's own account complicates that narrative, however, since he also said the character 'suddenly looked like Zoe' once Saldana was cast.

The judge postponed ruling on the defendants' anti-SLAPP motion and on whether to keep state law claims alive. Cameron met Kilcher in 2010, a year after the film's release, and gave her the sketch with a note calling her an early inspiration.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.