White Wolf Sues Sony Pictures over "Underworld" Movie

[Kellanved]

White Wolf Sues Sony Pictures over "Underworld" Movie
Posted 2003-09-05 17:01:33 by damonwhite


Damon White Reports: White Wolf, Inc. and author Nancy A. Collins Sue Sony Pictures, Screen Gems And Lakeshore Entertainment for "Underworld" copyright infringement

(Atlanta, GA) 5 September 2003 -White Wolf, Inc. and Nancy A. Collins yesterday filed suit in US District court in Atlanta, Georgia against defendants Sony Pictures, Screen Gems and Lakeshore Entertainment, alleging 17 counts of

copyright infringement for the film Underworld, set for release on September 19. White Wolf alleges that Underworld characters, theme and setting are based on White Wolf’s award winning games Vampire: The Masquerade® and Werewolf: The Apocalypse™, both set in White Wolf’s fictional World of Darkness®. Further, Collins alleges that Underworld’s script is based on her 1994 story Love of Monsters, published by White Wolf and also set in the World of Darkness.

Plaintiffs claim over 60 points of unique similarity between Underworld and their work. "Ours is a huge fictional world, supported by over 200 volumes of fictional material," asserts Mike Tinney, White Wolf’s President. "It’s infuriating to see Underworld’s script riddled with our property." Plaintiffs also claim that Underworld’s entire plot is based on Collins’ short story Love of Monsters. "Apparently they are marketing this as a remake of Romeo and Juliet," comments Collins. "What I think they really mean is that it’s an on-screen adaptation of my story."

White Wolf and Collins are seeking immediate injunctive relief and damages. "The volume of confusion in our marketplace is amazing," observes Tinney, "our fans think they’re going to be seeing our film. Of course, if the movie gets released, in a way they will be."

http://www.gamingreport.com/article.php?sid=10015

The complaint can be downloaded from www.penny-arcade.com
http://www.penny-arcade.com/dl/whitewolfcomplaint.pdf

White-Wolf is now a "bad" company for me; suing because of a free Videogame mod is not the right thing to IMHO.

Edit: fixed link

[RobertSeattle]

1. Ouch

I read the subject line fast and thought it said "White House Sues Sony Pictures over "Underworld" Movie".

But if you read it in that light it kind of makes sense..."Ours is a huge fictional world..."

[lazarus]

2. actually

when I saw the first ads for that film, I thought, "I've seen Blade already...."

[Mechatanketra]

3. Just one small thing ...

Technically speaking, plot and characters aren't protected by copyright. The Underworld script has to lift actual text from a White Wolf product to be in violation.

Not that this matters, since the usual tack in intellectual property cases is to bludgeon the judge or jury with invective about "stealing" and hope to Bob none of them have actually read Title 17 (the Copyright Act).

[J B]

4. Well said.

And if the judges have read it, the hope is that they did not understand it.