Photo: © 2010 AP via AAP/Summit Entertainment

Chinese writer, Zhou Shaomou, is suing Avatar director James Cameron for $160 million, claiming the blockbuster's script was lifted from a book he spent seven years writing.

It's not the first time Cameron has been accused of plagiarism - he settled a case over his film Terminator out of court.  

The producers of The Hurt Locker are being sued by a US army sergeant who alleges the central character in the film is based on him.

The sergeant says he coined the phrase "hurt locker" and that even the character's nickname, Blaster One, was his call signal while in Iraq.

The cases have spiced up what the already intriguing 'battle of the exes' between Cameron and his former wife, The Hurt Locker's director Kathryn Bigelow.