Ohio family to sue Disney World over plans for Florida theme park (http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20021118&Category=NEWS08&ArtNo=111180053&Ref=AR) - Toledo Blade, 11/18/02

QuikQuote: The Ohio family of a deceased Air Force veteran is expected to file a lawsuit tomorrow against Walt Disney World, claiming the company stole his elaborate plans when it created the Epcot theme park in central Florida.
In a rare legal challenge, lawyers for survivors of Lt. Col. Robert Jaffray of Wooster will press their case in federal court in Orlando, saying he and others were never credited for their role in inspiring an attraction that draws millions of visitors a year.

Who knows if this is true. It is intriguing that this man's rendering looks very much like the EPCOT rendering.

Same style -- same angle too.

Rubbish. I hereby ban this family from the Magic Kingdom! Effective yesterday! At around noon. Pacific Standard.

Wait a moment, scratch that. I hereby decree that they be allowed to build their own version of said park in Ohio. They've apparently already have the plans. All they need is some land, a billion O-hio dollars and my blessing. To think Walt one upped them and built his park first! Why that boils me Saxon blood! Grrrrrrrr! Ruff ruff! Grrrrrrr

i.r.

Family Charges Disney With Stealing Epcot Idea (http://www.local6.com/orlpn/news/stories/news-179379220021119-081120.html) -WKMG-TV, 11/19/02

QuikQuote: The team of plaintiffs' lawyers includes Mel Silverman and Michael Santucci, led intellectual property lawyers in the landmark case of All Pro Sports Camps, Inc. vs. Walt Disney Company, where an Orange County Florida jury compensated a Buffalo architect and umpire $240 million dollars, after finding that Disney willfully and intentionally stole their ideas to build the Wide World of Sports complex, according to a report.
Attorney John Stemberger of Orlando, a member of the plaintiff's legal team, predicts that "This lawsuit will establish the true history and origin behind another major Disney enterprise-and even under the kindest of royalty models, the potential damages in a case of this nature are simply staggering."

The picture by Jaffray looks more like the 1939 World's Fair than looking like EPCOT Center. When EPCOT Center was being built, Disney mentioned that it would be a combination of the ideas of Walt Disney's plans for the Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow and a permanent World's Fair.

I have one of the promo films that Walt made for his futuristic city. It shows renderings of a downtown area that is made up of the different contries from around the world. Oddly enough, those renderings look a lot like what became EPCOT Center.

I don't think that there is much of a case against Disney. It looks like a get rich quick scheme.

Odds are it won't hold water since it's a lot harder to prove he made it before the plans for Epcot were made since he probably didn't patent it. And I doubt pigment analysis would be of much use in a case like this.

Was that World's Fair the one with the geodesic spheres and domes that looked a little like spaceship earth? Or was that in Canada? I remember how there was also a fire in one of them.

Originally posted by Nergel2
Was that World's Fair the one with the geodesic spheres and domes that looked a little like spaceship earth? Or was that in Canada? I remember how there was also a fire in one of them.

Yes, those domes were in the 1939 New York Worlds Fair. The 1964 Worlds Fair had a big spinning Earth fountain.