Two writers who received screen credit on the first G.I. Joe movie, Rise of the Cobra, have filed a lawsuit against the makers of the sequel, Retaliation, claiming that Paramount, MGM and Di Bonaventura Pictures stole their ideas presented at various pitch meetings. In a complaint that covers some 113 pages and includes their treatment for the sequel, writers David Elliot and Paul Lovett maintain that while the filmmakers departed substantially from their original work on Cobra (for which they were paid and received credit), Retaliation (for which they were neither paid nor credited) was substantially similar to their work, including unique plotlines, themes, characters, relationships, settings, scenes, sequences, dialogue, mood, pacing and fictional inventions. Claiming copyright infringement and breach of implied contract, the two are seeking more than $23 million in damages.