Lawsuit says God of War infringes on author's copyright

by Andrew Yoon { Sep 17th 2008 at 6:30PM }

GamePolitics has learned that SCEA and David Jaffe have both been sued in the US District Court in California for alleged copyright infringement over the God of War franchise. The suit was filed in February by Jonathan Bissoon-Dath, "the author of a series of related works of fiction, including Olympiad," and Jennifer Barrette-Herzog, creator of Island at the Edge of the Living World. The two allege that they sent their work to Sony Pictures in 2002. They note that God of War shipped on PS2 in 2005, and David Jaffe said that the game took three years to develop.

The plaintiffs allege that God of War share many similarities in plot, character relationships, themes, setting, mood, etc. "Plaintiff's works tell the original story of how a champion saves Athens from destruction by the invading Spartan army that has been sent by Ares ... [God of War] is the story of how a champion chosen by Zeus and Athens saves Athens from destruction by an invading army sent by Ares ..."

With Greek mythology so widely read and known, it isn't surprising that remarkable similarities can appear between various pieces of fiction. SCEA responded to the allegations, calling them "inaccurate, incomplete, abstracted and/or misleading." Both SCEA and Jaffe have requested the case to be dismissed, and to be reimbursed for the legal costs associated with defending themselves.

Tags: david-jaffe, god-of-war, lawsuit, sony

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Jake @ Sep 17th 2008 6:36PM

and its taken them 3 years to bring this up?
so many people want to make the easy buck

Marrvia @ Sep 17th 2008 8:56PM

Well, first of all, if you read the PDF of the lawsuit, the plaintiff, filed for this lawsuit in December of 2006, the court system if just really slow, which is why it takes so long to hear about these things. And it is not unreasonable for the plaintiff to have not heard about the storyline for a year after the game's release if he had never played it. Even 3 years is not unreasonable if he doesn't play games. So you can't say this guy is just trying to wait for GOW to make money, and then cash in, that's ridiculous, not everyone in the world played GOW the day it was released.

I read the similarities part of suit, and it does look legitimate. Their are tons of similarities there. It might not be totally ripped off, but it definitely looks this guy's story was a least a big inspiration for the story in GOW. I don't think anyone's ideas should be ripped off.

Marrvia @ Sep 17th 2008 9:06PM

My bad, it was filed in 02/08, I read that part wrong. But still 2 1/2 years is not a long time to hear about it he had never played it.

chaoshunter555 @ Sep 17th 2008 6:38PM

ANyone can sue anyone over anything now these days.

"I am suing Microsoft about Vista because my PC froze once using THeir OS!!!"

Steve Childs @ Sep 18th 2008 4:31AM

Exactly. After all if you send in unsolicited work into a studio of any kind (music / video game / movie) without getting an agreement signed first, then you are rather stupid, imo.

MexicanTerrorist @ Sep 17th 2008 6:39PM

Honestly.
God of War came out 3 years ago.
Why do all these small people trying to sue Sony wait until they've made some money off their supposed "copyrights" before they decide to sue . . . .
Oh wait.

chililili @ Sep 17th 2008 6:42PM

To be fair the god of war story only really got a little depth in the sequel, the original was pretty straighforward if the author's books followed both the original and sequel then I owuld be suspicious. but still since its greek mythology he can stfu.

MattDark @ Sep 18th 2008 6:08AM

You did read the whole article right? Not just skimmed straight to the comments section?

The file was charged only a year after the original GOW came out.
Cases dont always go straight to the courts, it can usually take many months for cases to finally come around to be dealt with.
So a few years isnt all that surprising with some cases.

francisco @ Sep 17th 2008 6:59PM

I hate people that sue for stupid reasons. Specially waiting 3 years to do so. It's so obvious that they want money. Such a cheap way to get money seriously

Akamaru @ Sep 17th 2008 7:11PM

Whoever wrote the original Greek mythos needs to sue these douchebags. Either way, I'm sure Sony's lawyers won't take this lying down

jarhead906 @ Sep 17th 2008 7:23PM

Yes, especially since God of War III will more than likely be a hugh console pusher, even if it isn't a AAA title.

Kind of like Halo 3.

MexicanTerrorist @ Sep 17th 2008 7:42PM

Except that GOW 1 & 2 were both AAA titles, so this one most likely will be also.

Devin @ Sep 17th 2008 8:07PM

jarhead,

Are you serious? If GoW3 isn't going to be a AAA title and neither is Halo 3, then I would like to learn more about these AAA titles you speak of.

Marc @ Sep 17th 2008 7:25PM

Oh come on!! People making weak claims against sony.....again!!! This isn't as bad as the company that wanted to sue over blu-ray disks though.....

massive_98 @ Sep 17th 2008 7:29PM

Last time I checked Greek mythology is free domain. I agree there are similarities between the two, but this author would need a very talented barrister to win this claim.

Also for those of you thinking why wasn't this filed three years ago, it probably was. Most legal action especially involving business takes longer then what you see on Judge Judy.

Drizzt @ Sep 17th 2008 7:35PM

I'm from Europe, and I'm laughing at the American need to ALWAYS sue someone for something, no matter what. Especially in the software branch. This to me is absurd and unreal. Why is this? Of course there is always somebody wanting the piece of the 'big' cake, but come on, is this the way? I'm actually embarrassed on behalf of...well, everyone!

nakedatthecomp @ Sep 17th 2008 9:25PM

Canadians do the same thing... that would have gotten thrown out before it even made it to court here

MakaiOokami @ Sep 18th 2008 5:48AM

Another reason I want to move to Canada...

This is so pathetically simple...

Zues and Athens are Mythology... so is Ares... Invading Armies... are pretty standard... Should J.R. Tolkein sue for using "Invading Armies" or should someone else do it...

Hell how about someone sue the writer of The Left Behind series for ripping off the bible. How about we sue Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess for using a Wolf in their game after Okami came out?

Now if the writer had created someone like "Zuchorisho" who was the ruler of the underworld and tried to stop the protagonist, and then God of War had a character named "Zukosho" who was a being created by Ares to stop Kratos... THEN, THEN maybe he has something.

Hell maybe i should just start suing Christmas for ripping off, damaging, and ultimately ruining Winter Solstice...

bludessert14 @ Sep 17th 2008 7:35PM

Not unlikely
I'm good as long as GOW3 is good.
But GOW wasn't that great to me. I actually like Heavenly Sword better. But that trailer looked kick ass, and even if I don't like the game I'm buying that shit!

Drizzt @ Sep 17th 2008 8:06PM

Me too. I bought and played Heavenly Sword and enjoyed it well, but I have never had any desire to buy GOW, although this may change when the PS3 version gets a little meat on it's bones, i'll gladly spy on it's glorious shell.

RasenganFury @ Sep 17th 2008 7:46PM

With all the random suing, i think i should join in.

"I'm suing Sony for using a chrome finish on the ps3 when i clearly used it first for a project."

These guys are pathetic.

OddyOh @ Sep 17th 2008 8:19PM

In related news, I came up with "Fat Princess"...it's based on my ex-wife!

farfisa @ Sep 18th 2008 1:52PM

Now she's going to sue you for feeding her too much cake.
In other news, I once took a crap that looked like Old Snake. Should I call a lawyer or a doctor?

ferret @ Sep 17th 2008 8:24PM

I love how many people rush to claim this is people trying to make a quick buck. Have you read the source material? What if it's word for word? Corporations HAVE stolen material before, you know. Consider this: If you had a game idea, copyrighted it, and then submitted it to a game company only to have them make it without crediting you, and then you sued... 1,000,000 angry fanboys would be calling you names accusing you of trying to make a quick buck.

Starfire @ Sep 17th 2008 9:03PM

I'd actually want to see more details before I rush to judgement. If the dialogue is very similar and there are twists in the original mythology that appear in both, they could well have a case. If not, then, well they are wasting all our time.

Jon @ Sep 17th 2008 9:59PM

Seriously? This is a bs lawsuit. They claim that the Blades of Chaos were based off of their idea for Zeus' hands turning into lightsabers. WTF?

Edar @ Sep 17th 2008 10:21PM

I don't know but since they steal Kratos from Battle Realms everything is possible.

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183
/5639/battlerealmsna8.jpg

kentuckyfried @ Sep 17th 2008 10:35PM

I wish that these frivolous lawsuits in software would stop...

It's a bigger problem in academia where oftentimes, companies or even professors will steal graduate research and not give credit or profit to the graduate students...who are the true workhorses. Take for example the discovery of DNA. I hear the true story was the discovery wasn't by Watson and Crick, but by their grad student, a woman. Those cases never even make it to the courts, when they should.

exetermako @ Sep 18th 2008 9:14AM

Cripes, if Greek mythology and the themes involved were copyrighted a whole massive chunk of our literature would infringe on it. So someone manipulated Greek mythos in a story, saw that someone else did it too, and now wants to sue?

I call bullsh*t.