A Chinese author claims that the plot of the 3D flick Avatar was nicked from a book he published online.

Beijing-based scifi writer Zhou Shaomou believes that Cameron ripped off his online novel Tale of the Blue Crows and he wants a billion for the rights. Shaomou said that much of Cameron's Oscar-nominated film was yanked from the Chinese author's 1997 space epic novel.

He said that in his novel that their space journey took them six years but in Cameron's movie the journey takes them five years nine months and 22 days. Well that is a direct lift then. He admits he does not think he has a chance of suing Cameron, but he thinks it is worth a crack.

The Tale of the Blue Crows tells the story of remote-controlled human clones that explore distant star systems. Later in the novel there are blue aliens and memory transference is used as a plot device.

We are not sure it is a good idea to claim that you came up with Avatar's plot. Most film buffs claim that plot is the weakest part of the flick and the blue alien idea is probably not something you should own up too. (Yes, the Smurfs did it ages ago. sub.ed.)