James Cameron ‘Avatar’ Sued For $50 Million By British Artist For ‘Wilful And Deliberate Copying’ Of Na'vi Home Tree And Floating Islands Idea In Film

James Cameron, director of "Avatar," is being sued by British artist Roger Dean for $50 million. Dean claims that Cameron copied his ideas for the 3D film, which is the highest-grossing film of all time and was nominated for nine Oscars.

Dean, who designed album covers for rock bands Yes and Asia, filed a legal action in a New York court last week, BBC reports.

He accused Cameron of "wilful and deliberate copying, dissemination and exploitation" of his original images.

Dean claimed Cameron had "studied and referenced his art in preparation for the film," and that the "similarities of each such work are substantial, continuing, and direct so as to rule out any accidental copying or similarity in scenes common to the genre."

In particular, Dean said there are striking similarities between the Tree of Life and the Home Tree in the film and his works "Pathway" and "Floating Jungle." He also said his paintings of floating islands and arches in the sky, painted throughout his 40-year career, were copied by the director, BBC News reports.

Dean said his claims were supported by "numerous comments on the internet."

The British artist said he proposed a similar film idea to the Cannes Film Festival in 2005, four years before the film's release.

However, Cameron has said in the past that he first came up with the idea for "Avatar" in 1995.

This is certainly not the first time Cameron has faced legal issues regarding his extremely successful film, since its premiere in 2009. In December, 2011, the director faced a $2.5 billion copyright lawsuit by a sci-fi screenwriter, while another plaintiff also filed copyright infringement papers against him, MSN Entertainment reports.

In February, a U.S. judge threw out a copyright lawsuit from artist Gerald Morawski, who claimed his paintings inspired the $2.78 billion-grossing movie.

After winning the case, Cameron said, "It is a sad reality of our business that whenever there is a successful film, people come out of the woodwork claiming that their ideas were used. Avatar was my most personal film, drawing upon themes and concepts that I had been exploring for decades. I am grateful that the court saw through the blatant falsity of Mr. Morawski's claim."

Cameron has announced two sequels to Avatar, which are already in pre-production. The first is due in December 2014, and the second will open in 2015.