Photo: Horizon Comics Productions

When Montreal-based comic book company founders Ben and Raymond Lai watched the 2018 Marvel movie "Avengers: Infinity War," they said they knew they had to sue Marvel Entertainment — again.

The Lai brothers, founders of Horizon Comics Productions, claim the armour worn by Iron Man in the movie is too similar to the outfit sported by Maxwell, a character they developed for their Radix comic series in the early 2000s.

"After years of legal dispute and substantial sums of money, they continue to copy our characters," Raymond Lai said in a statement to The Canadian Press. “It causes us significant damage and has an impact on our ability to make a living as artists. Clearly, this repeated behaviour cannot be accepted.”

The brothers had sued Marvel Entertainment and its owner, The Walt Disney Company, in 2013. They claimed the outfit worn by Iron Man in a poster for Marvel's "Iron Man 3" looked too much like a suit for another Radix character, Caliban. The brothers, however, lost that legal case.

Ben and Raymond Lai say Marvel has copied their designs again. And their lawyers say they have a case because the brothers' claims involve new Marvel costumes in different Marvel movies.

On April 22, lawyers for the Montreal comic book company filed a motion in Quebec Superior Court against Marvel Entertainment and Disney for alleged copyright infringement. They say Marvel's Ant-Man, the Wasp and Iron Man characters have body armour strikingly similar to the clothing they created for their superheroes.

The plaintiffs are suing for compensatory damages yet to be disclosed, and they are asking the court to issue a permanent injunction against Marvel and Disney to “put an end to this deliberate and persistent infringement,” according to the lawsuit.

Several interview requests to Marvel and Disney were not returned. All the allegations by the Lai brothers have not been proven in court.