Borderlands 2 Lifts Artist's Work Without Permission

[Hylke Langhout]

Remember that guy who tried to sue Ubisoft because Assassin's Creed had a similar plot to his completely unknown book? I bet he's feeling like a jerk right now. It's cool to see how both parties are handling the situation calmly and maturely for a change.

Captcha: danish robot dancers. Because why not I suppose.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

The only similarity I can see is that little ridge in the middle... is that really infringement? It's only a tiny portion of the original picture.

It is infringement 'if' the pixels line up to prove that it was actually lifted.

Though as an artist myself, I'd have probably done the same thing in his situation. It was a tiny lift. Sure I'd be annoyed, but it's not THAT big of a deal. He handled it well.

He can afford to be chill about it regardless because the artwork would have almost certainly been produced under a Work For Hire contract, meaning he doesn't hold the IP rights to the work - LucasFilm does... so a certain lazy shitbag might have dropped Gearbox into the sights of LucasFilm's legal staff.

 

[Anti-American Eagle]

It doesn't really look like a direct rip, I think one of the artists may have had it in their subconscious however.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

you can attract more flies with honey than by yelling on the internet, as the saying goes

As always, there's an xkcd [http://xkcd.com/357/] for that.

Also, glad to see Gearbox trying to fix the mess.

 

[Eppy (Bored)]

Wow, handling an intellectual property dispute like adults? Unthinkable! Mad props to both parties.

Seriously, though, I don't really think this even needs to matter. All they did was borrow a quick slice of background image. I know it's still technically an IP violation, but it's literally just a piece of abstracted mountain, there are only two color regions to it. It could very well be considered a hidden homage, though if nobody's said anything by now its obviously not.

 

[Reincarnatedwolfgod]

ok from what i can see zig-zag clouds and the right part of the mountain ridges was copied and pasted
that is just fucking lazy

so no lawyers will be involved and both parties are handling this like civilized adults... well that is rare these days.
i would have expect at least one party to start suing
i guess hell must have froze over

 

[Vault101]

unrelated but I was meaning to scan the "back image" of the box to use as my desktp wallpaper because I thought it looked so cool

 

[ThrobbingEgo]

Here's a slightly higher-res version of the comparison pic, which is a little easier to make out:



The style is similar, but the ridges are identical. Definite lift.

So? A video game sequel makes their poster a sendup to The Empire Strikes Back. It's a visual gag.

American copyright law even makes allowances for lifting pieces from someone else's work, with factors like whether the use was transformative, whether the portion copied was large or substantial, the effect of the use on the potential market. I'm not a lawyer, but I don't think copying the original poster could possibly hurt the original poster's value in any way, shape, or form. I'm fairly certain that Gearbox could go to court and win, and it would be a bitter waste of everyone's time.

 

[MrGalactus]

Just the fact that someone noticed that is unbelievable

 

[Kellogs Fried Chickn]

The most regrettable part of this incident is barely mentioned, so here it is: the 'tribute' art is bad.
I should know this, I was a chicken.

/Not objectively, but it's so fulled junk which moss never does, and why he/she/it is loved by many.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

Wow, who would've thought that somebody would've acted in a mature and sensible way regarding copyright issues and better yet, that the infringing part is taking full responsibility, even if it wasn't asked for it.

Mad props on both parts.

Is there a reverse GIF for "I don't want to live on this planet anymore"? Something about a tiny speck of one's faith in humanity being restored?

Because I'd post it. Right here. Right now. Awesome reactions on both the artist and Gearbox's parts.

 

[weirdee]

would have been that hard to make a jagged path manually?

that's like, five seconds of attaching your mouse to a seismometer

 

[dessertmonkeyjk]

Both like each others work and respect what they do willing to come to a compromise. Nice to see some humility between the two however unusual it seems to be.

 

[TeletubbiesGolfGun]

"...you can attract more flies with honey than by yelling on the internet..."

This is the internet, if you can attract the flies, they'll do the yelling for you...

But still, cool of Gearbox to own up to it and hopefully make things right.

true on this.

still, i'm not sure but i could believe that the person who "lifted" it just did a quick lift and didn't think anyone would notice it, and he/she could just claim it to be their work since they spiced it up a bit. you can't tell me it doesn't happen all the time...

still, good on the artist to not go batshit insane, although i do understand his disappointment.

 

[gyroscopeboy]

If you haven't checked out Olly's website yet, please do, his work is kick-ass.

http://ollymoss.com/galleries/posters

 

[Do4600]

ak93]These are the same how...

Stylistically, yes. But if that's the case, Top 40 artists would be in an eternal lawsuit with each other...

There is a zig zaged looking ridge below Boba Fett, it's copied exactly to the BL2 insert art.

 

[MattAn24]

Isn't there a well-known quote, something like "Good artists copy, brilliant artists steal"? I swear I've heard it many times before..

 

[Jjtricky]

Checked my Borderlands case - Mine is in colour... Is this an American thing then?

 

[JediMB]

So it looks like something good came from something bad that came from something good.

Good show.

 

[Woodsey]

ak93]These are the same how...

Stylistically, yes. But if that's the case, Top 40 artists would be in an eternal lawsuit with each other...

The middle-bits with the zig-zag lines is where it's been copied.