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The Poynter Institute Menu Donate State Editions * California * Florida * Illinois * Iowa * Missouri * New York * North Carolina * Pennsylvania * Texas * Virginia * West Virginia * Vermont * Wisconsin * Michigan Issues * All Issues * Online hoaxes * Coronavirus * Health Care * Immigration * Taxes * Marijuana * Environment * Crime * Guns * Foreign Policy People * All People * Joe Biden * Kamala Harris * Charles Schumer * Mitch McConnell * Bernie Sanders * Nancy Pelosi * Donald Trump Media * PunditFact * Tucker Carlson * Sean Hannity * Rachel Maddow * Rush Limbaugh * Bloggers Campaigns * 2020 Elections Truth-o-Meter * True * Mostly True * Half True * Mostly False * False * Pants on Fire Promises * Biden Promise Tracker * Trump-O-Meter * Obameter * Latest Promises About Us * Our Process * Our Staff * Who pays for Politifact? * Advertise with Us * Suggest a Fact-check * Corrections and Updates Donate FOLLOW US The Facts Newsletter Sign up STAND UP FOR THE FACTS! Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy. We need your help. More Info I WOULD LIKE TO CONTRIBUTE One Time Monthly Yearly Join Now Instagram posts stated on October 4, 2021 in an Instagram post: “Sophia Stewart wrote books in the 70s that were stolen from her by Warner Bros. (Terminator 1-4 & The Matrix 1 & 2!) ... she won Hollywood's biggest lawsuit, $2.5 Billion.” * National * Corrections and Updates * Legal Issues * Pop Culture * Facebook Fact-checks * Instagram posts By Samantha Putterman October 5, 2021 NO, A WOMAN DIDN’T WIN A $2.5 BILLION ‘MATRIX’ LAWSUIT OVER COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT IF YOUR TIME IS SHORT * The lawsuit is real and Sophia Stewart, a writer and paralegal, continues to maintain that the films were based on her ideas. But her case has long been dismissed and there has been no such $2.5-billion settlement — not in 2004 when the rumor was first shared, and not now. See the sources for this fact-check An old hoax that the lucrative "Matrix" and "Terminator" film franchises forked over billions of dollars to a woman who claims they ripped off her work has resurfaced online as the fourth "Matrix" movie, "The Matrix Resurrections" is set to debut in Dec. 2021. "Sophia Stewart wrote books in the 70s that were stolen from her by Warner Bros. (Terminator 1-4 & The Matrix 1 & 2!)" a Sept. 29 Instagram post said. "Her lawsuit took 30 years but she won Hollywood's biggest lawsuit, $2.5 Billion." The lawsuit is real, and Sophia Stewart, a writer and paralegal, continues to maintain that the films were based on her ideas. But her case was long ago dismissed, with no such $2.5 billion settlement — not in 2004 when the rumor was first shared, and not now. The Instagram post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) On her website, where she describes herself as "The Mother of the Matrix," Stewart claims that she answered a magazine ad in 1986 that said Andy and Larry Wachowski (who would go on to direct the Matrix films and now go by Lilly and Lana Wachowski) were seeking science fiction stories to be made into a comic book. She said she submitted her story "The Third Eye," but never heard back and her manuscript wasn’t returned. After seeing "The Matrix" in 1999, Stewart claimed that she recognized themes and characters from her story and said the same of the "Terminator" films. She filed a lawsuit in 2003 against several defendants including the Wachowskis, "Terminator" director James Cameron, producers Gale Anne Hurd and Joel Silver, Warner Bros., and 20th Century Fox. She accused them all of copyright infringement and racketeering, and sought over $1 billion in damages. The case was dismissed in June 2005 after the judge ruled that Stewart and her attorneys had failed to produce evidence to support her claims and did not demonstrate a striking similarity between her work and the films. She later filed another lawsuit, this time against her attorneys who represented her in the case, accusing them of breach of contract and malpractice, among other things. In 2014, the judge ordered that she was entitled to $316,280 stemming from the costs and attorneys fees in the copyright infringement suit. FEATURED FACT-CHECK Viral image stated on October 6, 2021 in a Facebook post Photo shows hundreds of “sitting ships” waiting to dock at U.S. ports. By Samantha Putterman • October 13, 2021 Stewart responded and sent us court documents but we didn’t see anything that substantiated the claim. The false rumors about the supposed settlement appear to stem from an October 2004 article by the Salt Lake Community College Globe newspaper. The story, titled "‘Mother of the Matrix’ Victorious," mistakenly said that Stewart would recover damages from the films, receiving "one of the biggest payoffs in the history of Hollywood, as the gross receipts of both films and their sequels total over 2.5 billion dollars." The article was later found to be full of errors, with the student reporter mistaking Stewart’s successful counter of an early dismissal motion as her winning the case. The Globe issued a correction: "In reference to the recent article entitled ‘Mother of the Matrix Victorious,’ some information has been deemed misleading. Ms. Sophia Stewart has not yet won her case against Joel Silver, Time Warner and the Wachowski Bros. The decision on October 4th enabled Ms. Stewart to proceed with her case, as all attempts to have it dismissed were unsuccessful. Ms. Stewart’s case will proceed through the Central District Court of California." By then the story had already been picked up by other websites, and continues to be shared. Our ruling An Instagram post claims that Stewart won "Hollywood’s biggest lawsuit" over copyright infringement in the "Matrix" and "Terminator" film franchises and was awarded $2.5 billion. This is inaccurate. The case was dismissed in 2005, with no money going to Stewart. We rate this claim False. UPDATE, Oct. 6, 2021: This story has been updated to note that Stewart did respond to PolitiFact following initial publication. OUR SOURCES Instagram post, Sept. 29, 2021 CaseText.com, Stewart v. Wachowski, Accessed Oct. 4, 2021 Truthaboutmatrix.com, The Stories, Accessed Oct. 4, 2021 Salt Lake Community College Globe, "'Mother of the Matrix' Victorious", Oct. 28, 2004 Court Listener, Report and Recommendations — Document #283, Aug. 11, 2014 Court Listener, Order Adopting Report and Recommendations — Document #287, Sept. 29, 2014 The Los Angeles Times, The Billion-Dollar Myth, July 31, 2005 TIME, Inside The Billion Dollar Matrix Lawsuit, One of the Internet’s Most Pervasive Legends, Nov. 22, 2013 READ ABOUT OUR PROCESS The Principles of the Truth-O-Meter BROWSE THE TRUTH-O-METER MORE BY SAMANTHA PUTTERMAN slide 4 to 6 of 15 Candace Owens stated on September 9, 2021 a tweet: “The Biden administration is attempting to empower the IRS to monitor every single withdrawal, deposit, and transaction you make from your personal banking accounts, PayPal, Venmo, etc." By Samantha Putterman • October 11, 2021 YouTube videos stated on September 28, 2021 a YouTube video: A person’s immune system “tanks” after their second COVID-19 vaccine dose. By Samantha Putterman • October 7, 2021 Instagram posts stated on October 4, 2021 an Instagram post: “Sophia Stewart wrote books in the 70s that were stolen from her by Warner Bros. (Terminator 1-4 & The Matrix 1 & 2!) ... she won Hollywood's biggest lawsuit, $2.5 Billion.” By Samantha Putterman • October 5, 2021 Tucker Carlson stated on November 1, 2021 a documentary film: Federal agents directly incited people on Jan. 6, 2021, and "intentionally entrapped" American citizens. By Samantha Putterman • November 4, 2021 Tucker Carlson stated on November 2, 2021 a documentary film: “DEA agent Mark Ibrahim was forced from his job and later indicted simply because he was near the Capitol protest on Jan. 6.” By Samantha Putterman • November 2, 2021 Facebook posts stated on October 29, 2021 a Facebook post: “Virginia Democrat operatives” and Terry McAuliffe campaign staffers posed as white supremacists and stood by Republican Glenn Youngkin’s bus. By Samantha Putterman • November 1, 2021 Facebook posts stated on October 27, 2021 a Facebook post: Virginia voters are being turned away from polling locations because they were told they already requested absentee ballots when they haven’t. By Samantha Putterman • October 29, 2021 Tweets stated on October 27, 2021 a tweet: Says Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted: “People can’t really be convicted on such flimsy circumstantial evidence as ‘having a similar gait’ or ‘owning the identical shoes’ or ‘being in DC and not having any alibi for that time’ can they?! I don’t recognize this America.” By Samantha Putterman • October 28, 2021 Instagram posts stated on October 27, 2021 an Instagram post: An image of a newspaper article says “True Bethel Baptist Church becomes the first church in NYS to receive a liquor license.” By Samantha Putterman • October 28, 2021 Bloggers stated on October 23, 2021 a headline: “Barack Obama signals That Democrats Intend to Cheat in the Virginia Governor’s Election.” By Samantha Putterman • October 26, 2021 Instagram posts stated on October 18, 2021 an Instagram post: The FEMA health care workers replacing the noncompliant nurses and doctors are NOT required to get vaccinated via the CDC." By Samantha Putterman • October 20, 2021 Instagram posts stated on October 17, 2021 an Instagram post: A nurse who fainted after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine died from the vaccination. By Samantha Putterman • October 20, 2021 Facebook posts stated on October 13, 2021 a Facebook post: California’s shipping backlog is, in part, caused by a “California Truck Ban which says all trucks must be 2011 or newer and a law called AB 5 which prohibits Owner Operators.” By Samantha Putterman • October 19, 2021 Facebook posts stated on October 17, 2021 a Facebook post: Says Hunter Biden “was hanged at Gitmo.” By Samantha Putterman • October 18, 2021 Viral image stated on October 6, 2021 a Facebook post: Photo shows hundreds of “sitting ships” waiting to dock at U.S. ports. By Samantha Putterman • October 13, 2021 Candace Owens stated on September 9, 2021 a tweet: “The Biden administration is attempting to empower the IRS to monitor every single withdrawal, deposit, and transaction you make from your personal banking accounts, PayPal, Venmo, etc." By Samantha Putterman • October 11, 2021 YouTube videos stated on September 28, 2021 a YouTube video: A person’s immune system “tanks” after their second COVID-19 vaccine dose. By Samantha Putterman • October 7, 2021 Instagram posts stated on October 4, 2021 an Instagram post: “Sophia Stewart wrote books in the 70s that were stolen from her by Warner Bros. (Terminator 1-4 & The Matrix 1 & 2!) ... she won Hollywood's biggest lawsuit, $2.5 Billion.” By Samantha Putterman • October 5, 2021 Tucker Carlson stated on November 1, 2021 a documentary film: Federal agents directly incited people on Jan. 6, 2021, and "intentionally entrapped" American citizens. By Samantha Putterman • November 4, 2021 Tucker Carlson stated on November 2, 2021 a documentary film: “DEA agent Mark Ibrahim was forced from his job and later indicted simply because he was near the Capitol protest on Jan. 6.” By Samantha Putterman • November 2, 2021 Facebook posts stated on October 29, 2021 a Facebook post: “Virginia Democrat operatives” and Terry McAuliffe campaign staffers posed as white supremacists and stood by Republican Glenn Youngkin’s bus. By Samantha Putterman • November 1, 2021 NO, A WOMAN DIDN’T WIN A $2.5 BILLION ‘MATRIX’ LAWSUIT OVER COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT * Tucker Carlson stated on November 1, 2021 in a documentary film: Federal agents directly incited people on Jan. 6, 2021, and "intentionally entrapped" American citizens. By Samantha Putterman • November 4, 2021 * Facebook posts stated on October 10, 2021 in a Facebook post: Social media posts suggest a CDC graph shows the COVID-19 vaccine is harmful to children and that California’s school vaccine mandate is dangerous. By Sasha Hupka • November 3, 2021 * Viral image stated on November 1, 2021 in a Facebook post: President Joe Biden changed suits during his visit to the Vatican. By Ciara O'Rourke • November 3, 2021 * Viral image stated on November 1, 2021 in a Facebook post: “Global warming is part of (a) natural cycle and there’s nothing we can actually do to stop these cycles.” By Tom Kertscher • November 3, 2021 * Roger Stone stated on October 31, 2021 in a Gab post: “There are over 1 million phantom voters on the Florida voter rolls.” By Amy Sherman • November 3, 2021 * Jack Posobiec stated on October 24, 2021 in a post: A photo taken on Jan. 6, 2021, at the United States Capitol riot was “doctored to look as if the Capitol was on fire.” By Monique Curet • November 3, 2021 * Wisconsin Senate Republicans stated on October 26, 2021 in Twitter: “States run elections, not the federal government.” By Laura Schulte • November 3, 2021 * Steven Koonin stated on October 26, 2021 in an Instagram video: “Greenland's ice sheet isn't shrinking any more rapidly today than it was 80 years ago.” By Jon Greenberg • November 3, 2021 * Joe Biden stated on November 2, 2021 in a press conference in Glasgow: “Wages have gone up higher, faster than inflation.” By Louis Jacobson • November 2, 2021 * Tucker Carlson stated on November 1, 2021 in his documentary series "Patriot Purge": “Jan. 6 is being used as a pretext to strip millions of Americans, disfavored Americans, of their core constitutional rights.” By Bill McCarthy • November 2, 2021 Load more SUPPORT INDEPENDENT FACT-CHECKING. 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