AceShowbiz -

The success of "Ghost Rider" in collecting a respectable income of $114.8 million so far gets tainted as the studios producing the superhero flick now has to face a legal action from Gary Friedrich, creator of the comic book series the film is based on.

The Missouri-born writer was reported to place a lawsuit on April 4, 2007 in an Illinois federal court against Marvel Enterprises, Sony Pictures, and several other entities he deems responsible for ripping off his copyright on their way in making the movie. Considering the film to be a "joint venture and conspiracy to exploit, profit from and utilize", the man alleges that twenty-one violations were made during its production and marketing.

Furthermore, Friedrich accuses Marvel of damaging the value of his work, stating that the company fails "to properly utilize and capitalize" on the "Rider" character by accepting inadequate royalties from its co-defendants. In addition, he also claims that toy company Hasbro and videogame firm Take-Two have improperly created merchandise based on the characters.

Feeling so, Friedrich reportedly is looking for unspecified damages for copyright infringement, violations of federal and Illinois state unfair competition laws, negligence, waste, tortuous interference with prospective business expectancy, misappropriation of characters, and unauthorized use of the characters as well as false advertising and endorsement.