Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Lawsuit - The UpStream

File this one under "bizarre." Lucasfilm, new parent company Disney and distributor Paramount Pictures, have been sued over Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - and not for the obvious "it really sucked" reason, either. Instead, the companies are being sued for using the likeness of the Mitchell-Hedges skull, which is the missing fourth real world crystal skull, in the film without permission.

Now, while that might sound crazy on its face, it gets even crazier. The artifact in question is not currently in the possession of the person who brought the suit: director of the Institute of Archaeology of Belize, Dr. Jaime Awe. In fact, the artifact is not in the possession of anyone in the country, as it was stolen by treasure-hunters in 1924. This fact did not, however, prevent the suit from being filed, and damaged claimed. The good doctor claims that the use of the likeness without permission is unlawful and wants damages paid.

Oh, he also wants the skull returned - which I suppose is Disney's responsibility?

So, in recap: the director of an archaeology institute is suing for damages created by a movie about a real-world artifact because the item in the movie looks a lot like the artifact which is not under his jurisdiction, nor in his country for nearly a century, but should be returned by people who do not have it. And you thought the plot of the movie was convoluted and hard to follow... boy, were you wrong!