Writer Harlan Ellison has settled a lawsuit against In Time. The suit alleges the film took elements from the Ellison short story, “Repent, Harlequin! Said the Ticktockman” and used them without crediting Ellison.
Ellison agreed to settle in the case in return for screen credit that acknowledged the teeming similarities between In Timeand “Repent, Harlequin,” which include a society in which time replaced money as the currency, lawmen called “Timekeepers” who patrol theft and abuses of that time, and, in the lawsuit’s words, “the manipulation of time an individual can live, the type of death experienced by those whose time runs out, rebellion by story protagonists.”
Ellison had originally sued to prevent the scheduled release of the film, have all existing prints of the film destroyed, and receive a share of the box-office returns of any eventual release.
Not surprised at all. Ellison does not sue unless he knows he can win. Someday, studios will learn.