http://news.filefront.com/category/gamer-life/game-related-laws/

To this day, most people describe Capcom’s phenomenal Dead Rising as being similar to the George A. Romero classic, Dawn of the Dead. It’s not a stretch considering they both involve zombies and a mall, but it seems some people on the legal side of things have now taken an interest. Capcom recently filed for a declaratory judgment in a Los Angeles court to prevent New Line Cinema and the MKR group from asserting their intellectual property rights over Romero’s film. The complaint came after they received a letter from New Line arguing about the similarities between the two. MKR’s legal counsel sent a similar letter to Capcom, Microsoft, and Best Buy. Apparently, the different groups have been in talks for some time concerning the alleged copyright infringement and, so far, haven’t been able to resolve the issue.

On the one hand, sure there are plenty of similarities between the game and the film. But on the other hand, the concept of “zombies in a mall” is a pretty vague idea. If all it took were a setting and enemy to make a copyright claim, every other game developer would be constantly bickering over who gets the rights to “marines in space.”

Via Hollywood Reporter

http://news.filefront.com/category/gamer-life/game-related-laws/