Beyoncé sued over "Lemonade": did she copy the visual from a film by Matthew Fulks?

Trouble for Bey: filmmaker Matthew Fulks has filed a lawsuit against Beyoncé, Sony, Columbia and Parkwood Entertainment claiming that her "Lemonade" film has too many points in common with his short film called "Palinoia" (2014). Fulks argued that Beyoncé's team were aware of his 2014 short film prior to filming "Lemonade"; he also claimed that after being contacted with the opportunity to work with Columbia artists MS MR, a link to his short film was sent to Columbia Records' Bryan Younce. In July 2015, Younce sent Fulks a note inviting him to submit a video treatment for consideration by Columbia. Later that year, filming began for "Lemonade".

Fulks listed several elements he believes were lifted from Palinoia, including “graffiti and persons with heads down”, “red persons with eyes obscured”, “parking garage,” “black and white eyes”, “the grass scene”, “side-lit ominous figures” and more.

The film-maker is looking for damages, including a percentage of "Lemonade" sales.

The complaint, obtained by Pitchfork also got the original complaint filed by Fulks: it features side-by-side screenshots of the two films.