The copyright holders of
Cornell Woolrich's short story 'It Had to Be Murder', which
Rear Window (1954) was based on, sued DreamWorks, Paramount Pictures, and
Steven Spielberg for using the story without permission. In 2010, a federal judge dismissed the suit, ruling "The main plots are similar only at a high, unprotectable level of generality ... Where 'Disturbia' is rife with sub-plots, the short story has none. The setting and mood of the short story are static and tense, whereas the setting and mood of 'Disturbia' are more dynamic and peppered with humor and teen romance.". The publishers have a point though, this is, in some ways, an updated version of Rear Window.
