“Deschain” of The Dark Tower by Stephen King is not a copy of “The Rook”

A US Appeals Court recently has upheld an earlier ruling which says that the protagonist present in The Dark Tower series of Stephen King was not at all substantially similar to a character in an earlier comic book. The Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit found in a ruling handed down a few days back that the character of Dark Tower Roland Deschain had not copied any traits of Rest in Dane who was given the name of the Rook in an earlier comic book series having the same name.

The case was brought up by Benjamin DuBay who pulled King and publisher Simon & Schuster to the District Court for the Middle District of Florida in the year 2017. The creator of the famous character- The Rook was the uncle of Benjamin. However, the character was which was created in 1976. DuBay made accusations upon King of ripping off character-The Rook that too six years before the first Dark Tower novel was published.

DuBay also mentioned big names such as Marvel Entertainment and Sony Pictures Entertainment in his suit. Marvel took a license from them for a series based on series of his uncle’s novels. And on the other hand, Sony Pictures Entertainment also distributed the 2017 film based on the books after obtaining the proper license. However, the district court found after hearing both the sides and observations to the evidence closely that there were only basic similarities between the two characters of Deschain and the Rook, prompting DuBay to appeal.

DuBay mentioned in his suit, “There were substantial similarities between the Rook and King’s character, including that both were gunslingers who had a strong affinity with birds.” King later countered his statement by saying that he already had created so many aspects of Deschain’s character even before the time when the character of The Rook was even published. The Eleventh Circuit found in its judgment: “Any similarities are superficial and the district court did not err in its decision in any manner.” DuBay has not made any sort of announcement till now on the point of whether he will try to petition for a full-court rehearing at the Eleventh Circuit or to the US Supreme Court. All of us are waiting for his announcement eagerly.