Author Harlan Ellison has filed a lawsuit claiming that the Justin Timberlake film In Time copies his 1965 sci-fi story Repent, Harlequin! Said The Ticktockman .
The New Regency movie is distributed by 20th Century Fox and also stars Amanda Seyfried and Cillian Murphy.
Ellison filed the lawsuit in California on Wednesday and names Regency and director Andrew Niccol as defendants.
In Time is due to hit cinemas in the US on 28 October but Ellison has also requested an injunction to halt the release and demanded that all copies of the film are destroyed.
Ellison's company, The Kilimanjaro Corporation, began developing its own script based on the short story in 2010 and the author says In Time jeopardises the production of that movie.
