Oscar favourite The Shape of Water has found itself in the middle of a copyright lawsuit, with the family of a Pulitzer-winning playwright claiming the film "brazenly copies" one of the late Paul Zindel's plays.
The Shape of Water writer-director Guillermo del Toro, Fox Searchlight and producer Daniel Kraus are among those being sued by Zindel's family for damages and costs.
In a California court on Wednesday they denied all allegations that the Golden Globe-winning film, which is nominated for 13 Oscars, is "in many ways identical" to Zindel's 1969 work Let Me Hear You Whisper.
Lawyer Marc Toberoff claimed there are at least 61 similarities, saying they are both 1960s Cold War stories about an unmarried janitor and her relationship with an aquatic creature in a secret laboratory.
"The Shape Of Water, though presented to the public as a highly original work of fantasy/science fiction, in reality, brazenly copies the story, elements, characters, and themes from a work by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Paul Zindel," he said.
The lawsuit pointed to one interview which reports del Toro saying author Daniel Kraus told him of an idea in 2011 "about a janitor that kidnaps an amphibian-man from a secret government facility".
And another that reports Kraus came up with the idea when he was 15. The lawyer believes this would have been in 1990, the year when a television adaptation of the play aired.
Del Toro told Deadline.com that he has not read or seen the play.
"I'd never heard of this play before making The Shape Of Water, and none of my collaborators ever mentioned the play," he added.
Fox Searchlight said it would "vigorously" defend the "ground-breaking and original film".
"These claims from Mr Zindel's estate are baseless, wholly without merit and we will be filing a motion to dismiss," a spokeswoman said.
"Furthermore, the estate's complaint seems timed to coincide with the Academy Award voting cycle in order to pressure our studio to quickly settle."
The Shape of Water is in cinemas now.
Check out our interview with Guillermo del Toro:
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