Quentin Tarantino is being sued for potentially 'hundreds of millions of dollars' over alleged copyright infringement in relation to his 2012 film Django Unchained.

The legal action - which also names Columbia Pictures and The Weinstein Company has defendants alongside Tarantino - has been filed by Oscar Colvin Jr and Torrrance J Colvin, the writers of a screenplay entitled Freedom.

The Wrap reports the script that is alleged to have “provided the heart, bones and muscles to develop the unique idea that eventually would be transformed into Django Unchained".

The lawsuit identifies similarities between two of the main characters of Tarantino's film - Django Freeman and Dr Schultz - and characters in the Freedom screenplay, as well as plot similarities.

A quote from Tarantino himself - “I steal from every single movie ever made" - is also cited in the lawsuit to allege that the writer/director is an "admitted thief".

Django Unchained features references and homages to a number of films, most prominently the Spaghetti Western film Django. However the Colvins claim it bears “far more similarities” to their script than the 1966 film.

The level of damages sought is not specified, but the suit seeks compensatory damages "in an amount in excess of hundreds of millions of dollars to be proven at trial".

Tarantino's latest film, The Hateful Eight, is released in Ireland this coming Friday.