Sony Computer Entertainment America and game designer David Jaffe are being sued for alleged copyright infringement over
God of War.
GamePolitics has
Sony's statement on the matter, as well as the
complaint, which will be heard in US District Court in California. The crux of the case is that Jonathan Bissoon-Dath, who wrote a screenplay called
Olympiad, and Jennifer Barette-Herzog, who designed a map for the former's work, believe
God of War was based on their work submitted to Sony Pictures in 2002.
The plaintiffs cite numerous similarities between the two works (like, both stories have bridges going over bottomless chasms), while Sony maintains that Greek mythology is in the public domain and the alleged similarities are "inaccurate, incomplete, abstracted and/or misleading."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Tez (PSN: Tezasaurus) @ Sep 17th 2008 3:03PM
"both stories have bridges going over bottomless chasms"
Lordy, I hope that's not their best argument.
Xoviet chiK @ Sep 17th 2008 3:10PM
Oh no, it gets much better.
"As Zeus strides forward... his hands MORPH into two massive swords that glow like light sabers..."
Lone Starr @ Sep 17th 2008 3:30PM
I'm gagging on the phallic imagery.
heypaul @ Sep 17th 2008 3:40PM
"As Zeus strides forward... his hands MORPH into two massive swords that glow like light sabers..."
Ugh... I want to sue this guy for being such an awful writer.
Xoviet chiK @ Sep 17th 2008 3:05PM
Jonathan Bissoon-Dath aka... Homer?!?!?
Ubiqutous Oxymoron @ Sep 17th 2008 3:09PM
Troll-tastic
Daniel @ Sep 17th 2008 3:11PM
Well, ole Jaffe's blog should be interesting in the coming weeks.
AoE @ Sep 17th 2008 3:11PM
Hmm... considering Jonathan Bissoon-Dath doesn't show up in imdb... I AM CERTAIN that Sony must have passed on his screenplay because they wanted to turn it into a game franchise, not because he's a shitty writer or anything....
andyg8180 @ Sep 17th 2008 3:12PM
ruh-roh!!
Indiana Jones had an Invisible Rock Bridge that was bottomless... and im sure playboy magazine has lots of bottomless too...
moo083 @ Sep 17th 2008 4:59PM
Ewwwww, just because they have no shorts on, they have to have no ass either? Did they have it removed or was it an accident?
Gurbinder @ Sep 20th 2008 9:13PM
"and im sure playboy magazine has lots of bottomless too..."
Comment of the week yo, that made my laugh out loud.
AoE @ Sep 17th 2008 3:13PM
Also, why was Jaffe named? God of War was work-for-hire while he was at Sony, he shouldn't be legally culpable regardless of the merits of the claim...
ScottG13 @ Sep 17th 2008 3:14PM
Its gonna be REALLY hard to prove copyright infringement using public domain mythologies and one "original" character whose one primary infringing traits consist of being dark/angry and duel wielding swords.
Antagonist @ Sep 17th 2008 3:21PM
dual*
ScottG13 @ Sep 17th 2008 3:28PM
Curse you.
Draco @ Sep 17th 2008 4:50PM
maybe he wields them to Duel? :)
and we are showen two swords as a metaphor.
Sheppy (of the Fidlious Clan of Wong) @ Sep 17th 2008 6:29PM
Oh, it's better than that. If you read the court document, they allege that while the main character's ambitions and story arch matches Kratos, the characteristics and Ares devotion of Kratos himself stem from the OTHER lead character, Gaylon. So in other words, even when they are pointing at Kratos saying "we made this character up," they can't even decide which of their characters Sony stole from.
Hell, they even allege turning a Satyr into an evil and malicious being was their idea too. Let's just forget all the shit like Dungeons and Dragons as well as Everquest who took this foolish yet nonmalevolent creature and turned them into a generic enemy.
Seriously, read the court document...
http://www.gamepolitics.com/images/pdf/Sony-God-of-War-suit.pdf
It's worth the bandwidth in gigglebytes.
aristokrat @ Sep 17th 2008 8:28PM
IANAL, but it also seems like it'll be really hard to prove copyright infringement for a copyright that was issued in Dec 2006, a year and a half after the game came out (not to mention when it and its general plot were first revealed).
ScottG13 @ Sep 18th 2008 8:41AM
At that point, they'd really have to prove that Sony knowingly used their works from the (probably) unsolicited script that was sent. Sorry guys, not happening.
tooPrime @ Sep 17th 2008 3:15PM
Jaffe is a jerk, that said I don't think he stole the story, however I think it was derivative, adolescent, and generic, hence easy to sue.
Ayrkain @ Sep 17th 2008 3:18PM
http://www.amazon.com/Olympia-420-Quest-Peace/dp/0976308606
That's his book. It's also available for preview through Google Book Search.
joeybeast @ Sep 17th 2008 3:22PM
Don't fall for it, that's exactly what the author wanted. Our attention on his book.
AoE @ Sep 17th 2008 3:24PM
Hahahaha, thanks. Confirmed: Sony passed on his script because his writing is crap. Bear witness:
"Now the wild giant stepped out into the middle of the ring and bent over. He thrust his hands down towards the ground and scooped up two handfuls of thick, dark mud, which he smeared across his arms and face. Then he stood up straight again and rumbled a menacing growl at his opponent. 'Grrr!'"
Ayrkain @ Sep 17th 2008 3:26PM
I'm not likely to get the book in any case, but it doesn't sound particularly interesting to me, what with the focus being mostly on a loose historical interpretation of the Olympics.
Antagonist @ Sep 17th 2008 3:30PM
"Then he stood up straight again and rumbled a menacing growl at his opponent. 'Grrr!'"
That sounds like an excerpt from the script of some random gay gladiator porno.
The Artist formally known as Jesus @ Sep 17th 2008 3:40PM
So.... are we supposed to down rate that book into oblivion?
Ayrkain @ Sep 17th 2008 3:42PM
I wouldn't. It's pretty bad on it's own, and not really worth the time.
Tiptup300 @ Sep 17th 2008 4:26PM
Grr!
Lone Starr @ Sep 17th 2008 3:28PM
Out of court settlement.
Metal_Gear @ Sep 17th 2008 3:28PM
Wait until Sony show a teaser of the THIRD game to see how big the hype is and how much money your likely to make sueing... seriously... if the judge has any respect for his job, as soon as Jonathan Bissoon-Dath walks in the door, he should be told to... go somewhere...
Tez (PSN: Tezasaurus) @ Sep 17th 2008 3:31PM
*starts a slow clap*
Oh, not here?
FSK405K @ Sep 17th 2008 3:33PM
Let the American litigant losers do what they do best.
Leobebes (BDF: Braid Defence Force) @ Sep 17th 2008 3:36PM
This wouldn't surprise me one bit. Sony is notorious for copying other people's work or technology. It is ingrained in their overall philosophy.
Piggybacking on Nintendo and stealing their business structure that led to the PS1, undermining all of Nintendo's relationships with third party publishers, stealing an achievement system and touting it as superior, waiting for the competition to fully flesh out their online gaming features so they can just snatch them away and call them their own.
Sony when are you going to stop pretending to be innovative?
Kristof @ Sep 17th 2008 3:56PM
Wasn't Sony hired by Nintendo to make a console, only to back out and make the N64 ... thus Sony entered the gaming ring with the system they helped develop for Nintendo?
Phantom @ Sep 17th 2008 3:56PM
But Sony does it better , like in-game music m the 360 played over it , but on the PS3 it BECAME the soundtrack . Life with home will be better than the Wiis because you can cure cancer .
And remember way back when Nintendo but stick on their controls , then the Sony had them , which controller was better.
What Sony does is take what other people do , make it better , than sprinkle their own innovations on it . (Dualshock , Cell , BD , Life with playstation , etc.)
So yeas , Sony copies and innovates.
Vidikron @ Sep 17th 2008 4:06PM
You've got to be kidding.
Kspraydad @ Sep 17th 2008 4:42PM
The level of stupidity on the Internet never ceases to amaze.
Leobebes (BDF: Braid Defence Force) @ Sep 17th 2008 4:52PM
@Kspraydad
care to elaborate?
Sheppy (of the Fidlious Clan of Wong) @ Sep 17th 2008 6:46PM
Oh I can, cookie... because you're just so stupid it's cute.
"This wouldn't surprise me one bit. Sony is notorious for copying other people's work or technology. It is ingrained in their overall philosophy."
Show me ONE company that doesn't take anothers ideas an innovates. If we didn't have companies doing this and pushing the industry, we, as gamers, would be looking forward to... Odyssey III due out sometime Holiday 09. Seriously, you're grade A fucking retarded for even indicating this much. "Sony stole from Nintendo." Nintendo stole from Sega, Atari, and Amiga, you prick. Or do you really think that whole "GBA/GCN" connection thing was totally innovative and not like Dreamcast hooking up with NGPC at all?
Let's not forget the main selling point of the SNES was the phenominal sound chip. Guess who made it? Kuturugi himself.
"Piggybacking on Nintendo and stealing their business structure that led to the PS1,"
Look up your history. PSX was supposed to be the CD-ROM for SNES. Actually, Ken Kuturugi nearly lost his job when he agreed to make the SNES sound chip without permission from the Sony heads. He was on thin ground with PSX. It wasn't until Nintendo betrayed Sony at CES for the American company, Philips, (something unheard of by Japanese businesses then and even now) that Sony even had any interest in the gaming industry. Was Sony supposed to walk away from the $100 million spent deving the PSX?
"undermining all of Nintendo's relationships with third party publishers,"
Common misconception... Nintendo never HAD relationships with third party publishers. Fact of the matter is, Nintendo was a bunch of fucking pricks back then. Having Sony approach the third parties while being nice was basically unheard of. Whereas Nintendo's corporate slogan at the time might as well have been "Nintendo, cause what the fuck else are you going to put your games on?"
"stealing an achievement system and touting it as superior,"
I partially agree with this one since Trophies, like Achievement Points, are fucking retarded and do nothing. As for who invented them... gee, let's look back at the very first Ratchet & Clank. Of course they were called Skill Points and actually UNLOCKED content and bonuses, so in a way, Advantage Sony because they are STILL one of the few companies making nerd points worth a damn.
"waiting for the competition to fully flesh out their online gaming features so they can just snatch them away and call them their own."
Sega Dreamcast called. He says he wants his online back. Seriously, everything is evolution and no offense there guy, but PC users have been doing Xbox Live since Counter-Strike. Cept they've been doing it for free.
"Sony when are you going to stop pretending to be innovative?"
Gee, I don't know... Sony had a rough start during the PSX days to be certain. By the time PS2 rolled around, they were shapping up quite nicely. Last year, they had the highest review averages of all three console makers. Funny thing, that. A company that went from a joke with 989 and co managing to become one of the most innovative and imaginative studios in the world. And without constantly leening on the same IPs as well.
Bass Masterson @ Sep 17th 2008 8:08PM
Nice rant, fanboy. If only you'd bothered to notice that MS didn't invent any of their online capabilities, either. They stole ideas from existing PC services, sometimes buying up service providers wholesale to get full access to their code and infrastructure.
Drew @ Sep 17th 2008 8:08PM
@Sheppy
The PSX is an entirely different thing from the PlayStation.
Sheppy (of the Fidlious Clan of Wong) @ Sep 17th 2008 8:29PM
Playstations retail insignia was PSX. It's on every game box. It was the codename for the standalone CDrom system. So in my mind, that DVR PS2 hybrid in Japan isn't the PSX.
Vidikron @ Sep 17th 2008 8:59PM
@Bass
"Nice rant, fanboy. If only you'd bothered to notice that MS didn't invent any of their online capabilities, either."
Did he say they did? If you're going to reply at least reply to something that he actually stated.
Erik Stroud @ Sep 17th 2008 9:43PM
@Phantom
Sony steals because they can't come up with their own ideas. Yes, Playstation is good. But, saying they made everything better is a little much. I find the Playstation controllers to be one of the most uncomfortable controller ever. The analog sticks were worse than the 64s just because of the position.
kacex @ Sep 17th 2008 11:40PM
@Sheppy
Great comment
i think the name is Kutaragi? ... but still great comment
Vidikron @ Sep 18th 2008 12:32AM
@Erik
Yet they were the first to do dual analog. Whether you like their positioning or not, that was a very important advancement in console gaming.
el serpiente @ Sep 18th 2008 1:41AM
wow, sheppy just pulled out leobabies colon and wore it as a hat!
TheAzureKnight @ Sep 17th 2008 3:48PM
I have no idea if it's true or not but what would be the implications if it did turn out to be true?
I mean does that the God of War franchise is no more? As in God of War 3 no longer is coming out?
I know it will never hit the 360 (duh) but if it doesn't hit the ps3 that just make the console even worse when it comes to games. Other than FFXIII I don't see any other game that is as much looked forward to as God of War 3
atrimus @ Sep 17th 2008 4:41PM
um...yeah, okay. no comment.
Tarheel @ Sep 17th 2008 3:53PM
Everyone must read the whole complaint. Morph in light sabers? Holy Christ! I can't stop laugh-...oh, my God...They MORPHED into light...hahahahahaha. Uwe Boll wouldn't even... And Owen! His f**king name was Owen! Owen's Olympic Adventure! Can you imagine? "Ares! It is I, Owen! Owen Lightsaberhands!" hahahaha! Reserve your copy of LBP for a Sackboy OWEN. What a hack! Oh ,I'm going to piss myself.