Lawsuit alleges Capcom stole artwork from photographer for Resident Evil and different video games
A photographer and designer has alleged in a lawsuit that Capcom video games from Satan Could Cry to Resident Evil 4 used her copyrighted images extensively as environments, textures, and a major component of the Resident Evil 4 emblem.
Judy A. Juracek is the creator of a set of her pictures, known as Surfaces, first printed in 1996. It comes with a CD-ROM amassing the photographs, however utilizing these photographs for industrial initiatives requires paying for a license. Capcom by no means contacted Juracek for a license. Juracek has identified at the least 80 pictures used as references in Capcom video games throughout in depth documentation.
Lots of the areas and objects clearly referenced within the lawsuit got here from locations Juracek gained particular entry to, or which at the moment are gone, reminiscent of a particular pane of damaged glass from Nineteen Nineties Italy, or mansions and different structure not open to the general public.
Components of the lawsuit depend on data from final 12 months’s Capcom ransomware assault, which leaked massive quantities of inside data. The lawsuit alleges that one texture file discovered within the leak even had the identical title because it does on Juracek’s CD-ROM.
The next photographs are from the lawsuit papers themselves, and provides an thought of what the allegations seem like.
Found and first reported by Polygon, the lawsuit was filed in Connecticut, USA, on Friday, June 6. A Capcom consultant advised Polygon that it’s “conscious of the lawsuit” however has no additional remark. Not commenting on an ongoing authorized matter is customary in this type of case.
This is not the primary time one thing like this has occurred lately, as a Dutch filmmaker lately identified {that a} Resident Evil Village boss appears to be like so much like his personal propeller-headed monster.
