Rockstar sues BBC
Publisher claims upcoming film about Grand Theft Auto infringes on its trademarks
Rockstar Games has filed suit against the BBC over a new movie the broadcaster is producing. According to GameSpot, the publisher is alleging that Game Changer--a 90-minute docudrama about the real-life stories behind the Grand Theft Auto franchise--infringes on its trademarks.
"While holders of the trademarks are referenced in the film title and its promotion, Rockstar Games has had no involvement with this project," Rockstar said. "Our goal is to ensure that our trademarks are not misused in the BBC's pursuit of an unofficial depiction of purported events related to Rockstar Games. We have attempted multiple times to resolve this matter with the BBC without any meaningful resolution. It is our obligation to protect our intellectual property and unfortunately in this case litigation was necessary."
The film is based largely on "Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto" by David Kushner. Released in 2012, the book covers the story from Rockstar co-founders Sam and Dan Houser's first steps into gaming up through the feud with activist lawyer Jack Thompson, which reached its fever pitch with the "Hot Coffee" scandal that followed the release of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
Daniel Radcliffe (the Harry Potter films, Kill Your Darlings) plays Sam Houser in the film, with Bill Paxton (Titanic, Aliens) playing the part of Thompson.
*cue the "Game Over man... Game Over" scene from Aliens.*
Rather ironic how the primacy of 'freedom of expression' suddenly becomes far less important when someone might be expressing criticism of Rockstar, isn't it?
Otherwise it sounds like a perfectly legitimate legal issue to me, not a moral issue.
Edited 6 times. Last edit by Darren Adams on 21st May 2015 10:15pm
Is it just a publicity stunt? Any programme like this has to get approval from the legal department within the BBC so I'd be surprised if they have over stepped the mark.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Darren Adams on 22nd May 2015 9:49am
Isn't it the exact opposite, to prevent censoring unfavourable reviews etc? "Nominative use"?
i.e. created by a script writer, starring actors who may have never even heard of R* before (unlikely but..) and based upon a collection of facts and truths from a book, most probably jiggled about a bit for artistic reasoning.
Not the same a documentary about the company....
My 2p....
Not if you want to use content belonging to the company/individual outside of fair use, IE screenshots, game play, trademarks etc. Besides as mentioned its a Docudrama which is a different animal altogether.
Still edging towards publicity stunt atm.
Edited 3 times. Last edit by Darren Adams on 22nd May 2015 11:29am