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.
Comments
Re: God of War Copyright Infringement Case Dismissed
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
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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You KILL Vampires. You don't DATE them.
Re: God of War Copyright Infringement Case Dismissed
Very well chuckles, pop quiz time: The movie "The Rock" belongs in the category
A) Romance
B) Tragedy
C) Satire
D) Comedy
or
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.
Re: God of War Copyright Infringement Case Dismissed
Spoiler alert
www.gameslaw.net
Re: God of War Copyright Infringement Case Dismissed
Care to elaborate?
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I LIKE the fence. I get 2 groups to laugh at then.
Re: God of War Copyright Infringement Case Dismissed
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.
Re: God of War Copyright Infringement Case Dismissed
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).
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Re: God of War Copyright Infringement Case Dismissed
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/
I have a dream, break the chains of copy right oppression! http://zippydsmlee.wordpress.com/2011/12/31/what-is-cigital-disobedience/