God of War Copyright Infringement Case Dismissed

March 12, 2010

David Jaffe can breathe a little easier today. According to the embattled developer, Bissoon Dath v. SCEA and David Jaffe, a copyright infringement lawsuit over various themes in the God of War series, was dismissed by a federal court judge last week.

Some sites are mistakenly reporting that the case was settled; however the judge's order clearly indicates that the dismissal is the result of a successful motion by SCEA and Jaffe for summary judgment, and therefore a victory for Jaffe.

It remains to be seen whether there will be a subsequent battle for attorney’s fees and costs, which presumably have racked up over the year and a half long litigation. Other than publishing the judge's order, Jaffe's only statement on his blog was "...".

The full judgment can be viewed here (PDF), via The Hollywood Reporter.

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Comments

Re: God of War Copyright Infringement Case Dismissed

Submitted by Neeneko on Fri, 03/12/2010 - 13:24.

Carefull about oversimplifying cases like this, these are NOT easy to sort through.

No, they could not copyright 'greek mythology', but things get sticky when you pitch an idea to a company as an independent and then discover one of their internal/existing developers puts out content that looks like it was inspired by what you created.

This is, unfortunately, a long standing problem in the movie industry that screws over independent writers rather often. Execs (sometimes unintentionally) transfer plot elements to 'buddies' already in the company and the original author never gets credit.

Looking at their specific claims, I generally thought they had at least a 'should be put in the credits' type case. But going up against expensive lawyer to prove a case like this is hell for small authors so I doubted they would get anything. They never do.

Re: God of War Copyright Infringement Case Dismissed

Submitted by jedidethfreak on Mon, 03/15/2010 - 00:26.

The problem authors face is that there is no original thinking in storytelling anymore. There hasn't been for centuries. Every story that can be written fits into four basic story arcs (romance, tragedy, satire and comedy), and then within six to eight different subsets within those arcs. All any writer has is details.

IMO, it can be very easy to argue that someone didn't steal something in a general sense, since it's all stolen from Shakespeare, whom stole it from ancient literature, all the way back to the birth of civilization.

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Re: God of War Copyright Infringement Case Dismissed

Submitted by DarkSaber on Mon, 03/15/2010 - 15:54.

Very well chuckles, pop quiz time: The movie "The Rock" belongs in the category

A) Romance

B) Tragedy

C) Satire

D) Comedy

E) You're talking a load of shit as usual.

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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.

-------------------------------------------------- I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.

Re: God of War Copyright Infringement Case Dismissed

Submitted by Liz Surette on Fri, 03/12/2010 - 12:45.

Spoiler alert

www.gameslaw.net

Re: God of War Copyright Infringement Case Dismissed

Submitted by DarkSaber on Fri, 03/12/2010 - 12:46.

Care to elaborate?

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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.

-------------------------------------------------- I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.

Re: God of War Copyright Infringement Case Dismissed

Submitted by DarkSaber on Fri, 03/12/2010 - 12:37.

So there was no base to the case that Bissoon owned the copyright to Greek mythology. Funny that.

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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.

-------------------------------------------------- I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.

Re: God of War Copyright Infringement Case Dismissed

Submitted by Rodrigo Ybáñez ... on Fri, 03/12/2010 - 12:49.

He is not amused...

Is almost the same thing they tryed to claim with League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie years ago (that movie sucked ass, anyways).

------------------------------------------------------------ My DeviantArt Page (aka DeviantCensorship): http://www.darkknightstrikes.deviantart.com

Re: God of War Copyright Infringement Case Dismissed

Submitted by ZippyDSMlee on Sat, 03/13/2010 - 15:57.

I liked the movie and Hellsing but loath Xmen/transformers/ghostrider 0-o

Until lobbying is a hanging offense I choose anarchy! CP/IP laws should not effect the daily life of common people! http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/

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Zen: On a funny side note...both of my boys have already voted NOT to get the Xbox One as soon as they found out Minecraft won't transfer lol. Some people have priorities damnit! ;)05/21/2013 - 9:27pm

Andrew Eisen: Here's the full quote on EA making Wii U games according to Neogaf: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56112105/21/2013 - 8:19pm

Andrew Eisen: Xbox One may not be always on but that doesn't mean you can use it without an internet connection. http://kotaku.com/xbox-one-does-require-internet-connection-cant-play-o-50916410905/21/2013 - 7:39pm

Andrew Eisen: Polygon says EA's CFO says it is developing games for Wii U but doesn't provide that quote. http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/21/4351844/ea-developing-wii-u-games05/21/2013 - 7:11pm

Andrew Eisen: Well, I was right. Both Sony and Microsoft's consoles will be out by the year's end and both will be significantly more powerful than the current gen.05/21/2013 - 5:06pm

james_fudge: thnx05/21/2013 - 4:47pm

Zen: Just to let ya know...you called it the "Xbox 260" in the backwards compatibility article lol.05/21/2013 - 4:26pm

Zen: @PHX Awesome, I will hit those up after class tonight. Going back to college finally! :) My kids have had a blast telling ME to do my homework now lol.05/21/2013 - 4:19pm

PHX Corp: @Zen I sent you a friend request on both PSN and XBL, just a heads up05/21/2013 - 4:16pm

Zen: I noticed it with the football players when EA showed off Madden as well.05/21/2013 - 4:11pm

Zen: Is it just me or is call of duty hitting the "uncanny valley" with their nicely modeled faces and dead looking eyes? I found it distracting and seemed actually "less" real to me lol.05/21/2013 - 4:10pm

james_fudge: it sounds like if you have an HD reciever you'll be able to use it with a pass-through cable... not 100 percent sure yet05/21/2013 - 2:41pm

james_fudge: happening now http://majornelson.com/2013/05/21/xbox-one-architecture-panel/05/21/2013 - 2:20pm

E. Zachary Knight: Some reading material for Microsoft on its used games blocks. That will hurt the console more than helping. http://ezknight.net/?page_id=20505/21/2013 - 2:18pm

james_fudge: yeah good luck with over the air TV05/21/2013 - 2:12pm

E. Zachary Knight: But what if I want to only watch over the air tv? I don't subscribe to pay tv. I never will. If that is a requirement, then MS wasted 45 minutes telling me how great TV will be.05/21/2013 - 2:08pm

james_fudge: EZK it will depend on your provider, just like HBO Go i'd imagine.05/21/2013 - 2:05pm

PHX Corp: @IanC there's also a chance that those titles might be Xbox one exclusive, but it's too early to tell afaik05/21/2013 - 2:03pm

IanC: @E. Zachary Knight - MS certainly got the checkbook out for EA, so no surprise on how negative they are over the Wii U.05/21/2013 - 1:54pm

MaskedPixelante: So now I have to wonder, how many of EA's games are skipping the PS4 because of their pro-used stance?05/21/2013 - 1:53pm

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