Comments on: Not Playing Around: 8 Lawsuits Involving Video Games

By: Dennis

Dennis — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 19:42:32 +0000

Hey Carolyn, How would I go about getting permission to use the small sample from the south american getaway by Burt Bachrach in the same movie?

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:59:25 +0000

Ugh! PS — Sigh! Even librarians make mistakes…the film is Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid, not The Sting where you’ll find Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head. I just remembered the scene with Paul Newman and Katherine Ross riding on a bicycle. My bad! :(

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:56:47 +0000

Here’s one for the songwriters of the world:

My mom worked as a copyright administrator for a law firm that represented Burt Bacharach (Don’t know who he is? Fish out your old Dionne Warwick and Carpenters albums and check out hits like Walk on By and Close to You, in addition to the song I’m writing about here, Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head (from the movie soundtrack for The Sting).

Part of her job was to inform the lawyers-that-be about possible or actual copyright infringements involving non-licensed use of their clients’ songs in all kinds of media, including video games.

My brother loved an Atari (remember them!) video game and got so good at it that when he reached the highest level, it played Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head in the background. Apparently, said video game authors didn’t think that anyone would get to the end of the game and as such, didn’t seem to think that licensing that song was necessary. Evidently, they hadn’t met my brother nor my mom, who loves to keep her clients’ intellectual property protected and paid for. Knowing Mr. Bacharach’s song catalog and having been the one to administer the licensing, she knew no license had been applied for or granted for use of this song in this video game.

Needless to say, Mom told her bosses who contacted Atari, not exactly an unknown in the realm of video game creation and manufacturing, and said, ok, how many copies of this game have been sold? Ah…that many…ok, you owe us mucho dinero! And…they paid many millions and hopefully learned the lesson not to take for granted focused young gamers and their mothers who may just work for the people you aren’t too concerned about ripping off.

By: FFurd

FFurd — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 01:26:46 +0000

50 cent’s suit was about his likeness, but I think it’s worth mentioning that the original ads did not feature a photographer. This made it look like you were pointing a sniper rifle at Mr. Cent.
Additionally they also caused some controversy when the advertisement redirected people to a post about the VT shooting.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/07/20/entertainment/e162654D09.DTL

By: Carol

Carol — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:33:20 +0000

As a former semi-obsessed fan, I just thought you might want to know that Deee-lite is spelled with three e’s. Sigh. Don’t worry, the mistake is very common with n00bs. Poor Lady Kier – that’s a lot of dough to have to shell out!

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 21:31:36 +0000

Thank goodness Jack Thompson wasn’t mentioned in the article – that’s a whole different chapter right there!

By: Amauriel

Amauriel — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:52:38 +0000

I think that the screenshot that was chosen to represent Space Channel 5 is an interesting one, as it shows Space Michael on the right. Michael Jackson’s history with Sega is quite an interesting story indeed, involving not only Space Channel 5 but also Sonic.

Also, did anyone else notice how many times Acclaim appear on this list?

By: Joel

Joel — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:45:46 +0000

I feel like missing from this page is Rockstar Games.

See:
Jack Thompson.