SCEA, David Jaffe Face Copyright Infringement Lawsuit
See Full ImageWhen something gets to be as big as God of War, it seems like everyone wants a piece of the pie. And if you claim that it was your original material that found its way into the series, you're obviously seeking reimbursement...as unlikely as copyright infringement may seem in this case.
According to GamePolitics, Sony Computer Entertainment America and well-known developer David Jaffe (now heading up his own studio, Eat Sleep Play), have been sued in the U.S. District Court in California for "alleged copyright infringement" in regards to the critically acclaimed GoW franchise. Filed in February, plaintiffs Jonathan Bissoon-Dath and Jennifer Barrette-Herzog say their work may have been the inspiration behind the conception of God of War. Bissoon-Dath says he's "the author of a series of related works of fiction, including Olympiad, a screenplay." Barrette-Herzog says she created "Island at the Edge of the Living World," and both claim they sent their work to Sony Pictures as well as some talent agents who frequently work with SCEA. This happened in 2002, and because it has been said that GoW took 3 years to develop (it released in 2005), the timing seems about right for their case.
Not only this, but the two plaintiffs go so far as to say that GoW "shares elements of plot, character relationships, themes, settings, mood, pace and dialogue" with their work. If you want to see the full legal listing, feel free. On August 29, SCEA and Jaffe filed their responses, which basically say no such copyright infringement took place. Thing is, an artist's inspiration can come from any number of things; maybe Jaffe looked at a cover of a book of Greek mythology somewhere and a light bulb went on. Is it possible he saw the work of the plaintiffs and just decided to use it without permission? It seems highly unlikely. We're calling bogus on this one. How many Greek mythology-related stories are out there? Eight quadra-zillion?
9/18/2008 Ben Dutka
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Comments (25 posts)
ThePoetRazel
Thursday, September 18, 2008 @ 1:39:22 PM
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Anyway, you can't copyright an idea or fact, only the specific representation of it.
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Qubex
Thursday, September 18, 2008 @ 9:31:12 PM
Having worked in with creatives it is understandable what can occur. The problem here is that if someone has an idea, it is quite easy to develop close variations of that idea without necessarily stepping on anyone's toes. It is the severity of the "grey zone", how close is it to the original works?
I guess if it can be proven that character profiles, game-play/story mechanics and visualisation/environmental descriptions developed by the plaintiff are included in GoWl, in a "rounds about way" - depends how the judge and jury see it, then they may just have a case.
Difficult to judge until all the facts are laid out in front for all to see... so to try to conclude in these forums who's right and who's wrong is silly at this stage. Lets not speculate, lets wait and see what the outcome is...
Q!
"aLL RoAds LeAd ToO HoMe"
Last edited by Qubex on 9/18/2008 9:32:55 PM
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Riku994
Thursday, September 18, 2008 @ 2:01:25 PM
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jonny_bolton
Thursday, September 18, 2008 @ 4:10:12 PM
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Scarecrow
Thursday, September 18, 2008 @ 2:05:37 PM
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You have people suing for every little thing, specially if it involves a lot of money.
They won't win that's for sure.
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Kiengo
Thursday, September 18, 2008 @ 2:07:10 PM
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robinhood2010
Thursday, September 18, 2008 @ 4:15:16 PM
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Riku994
Thursday, September 18, 2008 @ 4:28:41 PM
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jonny_bolton
Friday, September 19, 2008 @ 12:03:39 PM
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shaydey77
Thursday, September 18, 2008 @ 4:29:02 PM
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dlte
Thursday, September 18, 2008 @ 5:09:08 PM
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ThePoetRazel
Thursday, September 18, 2008 @ 5:56:51 PM
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ZubraZap
Thursday, September 18, 2008 @ 5:14:35 PM
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Minishmaru
Thursday, September 18, 2008 @ 5:44:31 PM
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Jed
Thursday, September 18, 2008 @ 5:53:46 PM
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www
Thursday, September 18, 2008 @ 6:35:38 PM
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Anyway how americans sue people every second is pitiful,celebs n other rich persons r gettin sued all the time just to get a piece of they action.
Come to Africa,where people don't got time to sue nobody, n it's funny, some have started due to it's popularity in the US,we now doin the same but not really common,it's a once in a red sun thang...lol
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bamf
Thursday, September 18, 2008 @ 6:37:02 PM
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LightShow
Thursday, September 18, 2008 @ 9:14:22 PM
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my idea. and i should get money from Aquafina, Dasani, Deja Blue, and even Fiji
Ridiculous, no?
These people should accept the fact that someone got the whole "crazy war-monger kills ares and gets to be the new god of war" idea in the public stream before they did.
There are 300 million people in the US. It seems somewhat likely that two people may come up with a similar stroy premise about the same time, especially when you take into account the fact that greek mythology is such fertile ground for ideas to grow.
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AceTatsujin
Thursday, September 18, 2008 @ 9:16:55 PM
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Tatsujin
Thursday, September 18, 2008 @ 10:03:36 PM
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Guranteed theyre not winning anything here.
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ArnoldK PSXE [Administrator]
Friday, September 19, 2008 @ 10:30:50 AM
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Things like this happen very often, though and David Jaffe is not one to blame here. If these guys are the original proprietors of the work, then it is Sony that handed the idea down to Jaffe and said "hey, we want a game that goes like *this*." As far as Jaffe was concerned, they got the idea legitimately.
I won't call BS, nor will I side. These things happen often, and it'll be up to the courts to see just how real these similarities are.
P.S. AceTatsujin and Tatsujin, are you two related?
Last edited by ArnoldK PSXE on 9/19/2008 10:31:31 AM
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AceTatsujin
Friday, September 19, 2008 @ 6:25:31 PM
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Aftab
Saturday, September 20, 2008 @ 4:12:41 PM
Last edited by Aftab on 9/20/2008 4:16:34 PM
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tramp
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Thursday, September 18, 2008 @ 1:30:45 PM