My mate wrote Grand Theft Auto
18 December 2003, 05:42 PM
#1
Scooby Regular
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 757
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3331651.stm
Mate of mine has finally launched his law suit against the makers of GTA. Showed me it on his laptop months back, and it's almost identical to the first GTA.
Mate of mine has finally launched his law suit against the makers of GTA. Showed me it on his laptop months back, and it's almost identical to the first GTA.
Trending Topics
19 December 2003, 01:29 PM
#8
Scooby Regular
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Throwing myself down a mountain at every opportunity...
Posts: 6,794
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
GTA was originally PC only, and was signed by a friend of mine, Gary Penn (who used to write for Zzap 64! Magazine) for BMG interactive, from DMA Design (now rockstar North)
I have my own opinions on this case, but a few things I would say are that it takes a significant sized team of extremely talented individuals to create a game with the scope, vision and technical excellence of GTA. The days of a game being developed by a single person died with the Amiga.
Game developers and publishers stopped taking submissions from external sources many years ago simply because it is such a grey area. IP law is very complex, particularly in the UK.
Another example. Game developers today spend tens and even hundreds of thousands creating game designs and accompanying demos with no guarantee they will be signed by publisher, and funded through to completion. (And even if they are, few are marketed effectively enough, and even fewer make a significant return on the initial investment.) When the developer approaches the publisher, they HAVE to sign away any right to claim copyright, simply because the publisher may already be working on a similar project, but because the industry is so secretive, they would be unable to tell the developer that is the case and so when they turn the product down and 18 months later come out with a similar product, the developer could sue.
Claiming ownership of a 'concept' in this industry is incredibly difficult nowadays, which is precisely why the industry is so secretive compared with music and film.
I have my own opinions on this case, but a few things I would say are that it takes a significant sized team of extremely talented individuals to create a game with the scope, vision and technical excellence of GTA. The days of a game being developed by a single person died with the Amiga.
Game developers and publishers stopped taking submissions from external sources many years ago simply because it is such a grey area. IP law is very complex, particularly in the UK.
Another example. Game developers today spend tens and even hundreds of thousands creating game designs and accompanying demos with no guarantee they will be signed by publisher, and funded through to completion. (And even if they are, few are marketed effectively enough, and even fewer make a significant return on the initial investment.) When the developer approaches the publisher, they HAVE to sign away any right to claim copyright, simply because the publisher may already be working on a similar project, but because the industry is so secretive, they would be unable to tell the developer that is the case and so when they turn the product down and 18 months later come out with a similar product, the developer could sue.
Claiming ownership of a 'concept' in this industry is incredibly difficult nowadays, which is precisely why the industry is so secretive compared with music and film.
19 December 2003, 02:09 PM
#9
Scooby Regular
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 757
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Interesting comments. He wrote the game many years back for the Amiga, and has been going on about "I wrote GTA and I'm gonna sue them etc" we all thought yeah yeah until he showed it to me on his laptop with an Amiga emulator. It WAS GTA v.1 in look and feel, about 80% of the finished product.
The bloke he co-wrote it with hasn't got the bottle to sue, and has signed away his rights. Rockstar's lawyers have already paid a visit to check him out, see how much money he's got to fight with presumably. Does sound worth more that £1.5m to me. Best of luck to him though, having see the game, it is fecking identical to GTA and he deserves it.
The bloke he co-wrote it with hasn't got the bottle to sue, and has signed away his rights. Rockstar's lawyers have already paid a visit to check him out, see how much money he's got to fight with presumably. Does sound worth more that £1.5m to me. Best of luck to him though, having see the game, it is fecking identical to GTA and he deserves it.
19 December 2003, 02:20 PM
#10
Scooby Regular
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Throwing myself down a mountain at every opportunity...
Posts: 6,794
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I really cannot understand why he has left it until now tho? It is not like the Grand theft auto series has suddenly become popular, even the original game sold over one million units and had massive publicity due to the controversial nature of the gameplay. There have been numerous incarnations of the game now.
Money is not really an issue. If he really does (or did) have a case, any decent lawyer in that field would have taken it on on no win no fee basis.
I have designed more than my fair share of games that have never made it to full production but that have subsequently been made by other people and become incredibly successful, so if he really does have a case, then I feel for him. I just struggle to find the logic behind it.
Money is not really an issue. If he really does (or did) have a case, any decent lawyer in that field would have taken it on on no win no fee basis.
I have designed more than my fair share of games that have never made it to full production but that have subsequently been made by other people and become incredibly successful, so if he really does have a case, then I feel for him. I just struggle to find the logic behind it.
19 December 2003, 03:32 PM
#11
Scooby Regular
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 757
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Yes it has been a while! I suppose it's a combination intertia, fear and laziness. It's taken a year to get to the stage where it's going to court. He does have a no-win no-fee deal, so they must rate his chances.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post