The Last Of Us Faces Another Rip-Off Accusation - UPDATED

[mbarker]

I thought Ellen Page's rip-off comment was just a poor choice of words. It seens kind of small compared to the accusations that this guy is throwing about. I can make improvements to Mickey Mouse's apperance that doesn't mean I own Mickey Mouse. Shouldn't it fall under fair use?

 

[bug_of_war]

While I suppose it is true that seeing as how he did technically create the design and changed a few routes, I can't help but wonder how far we can push copyright. Since when have maps of areas been copyright protected? Like, come on, next thing you know basic shapes will be copyright protected.

 

[Korten12]

Honestly, the entire game screams 'CashCow'

so frankly the fact they're too cheap to pay someone £5 to draw a metro lines poster art is no surprise to me.

Your right it is a Cash cow. They made a really good game and made a lot of money.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

While I suppose it is true that seeing as how he did technically create the design and changed a few routes, I can't help but wonder how far we can push copyright. Since when have maps of areas been copyright protected? Like, come on, next thing you know basic shapes will be copyright protected.

Too late, Apple already has a patent on rounded rectangles.

No, really.

I'm just sick and tired of intellectual property law on the whole. It's getting to where I don't care whether it's a little guy or a big corporation, I have no sympathy for anyone trying to make a claim under that branch of the law. It's supposed to spur creativity[footnote]Yes, that is what it's about. It's not supposed to reimburse the creator, it's supposed to encourage people to create by allowing them to be reimbursed. What it's doing instead is preventing people from creating new things, because someone somewhere owns the rights to every idea past, present, and future. Or at least they do if you ask the lawyers.[/footnote], and instead it stifles it. I can't understand how anyone would support something like that.

 

[Orekoya]

Huh... didn't even think of maps being copyrighted, but apparently it's a big business. Some manufacturers even have copyright traps in their maps, adding towns or points of interest on their maps that don't actually exist to make it easier to tell if the map is theirs or not.

But here's the trick in this case. Sounds like this guy didn't publish or distribute the map they used, he just did it for S&Gs to show what was wrong. Naughty Dog basically found a way to use a non-copyright map, which is pretty rare, and now this guy doesn't have a leg to stand on in the conversation. Posting an edited map on your blog doesn't make it copyrighted.

Sure it's a bit conniving on Naughty Dog's end, but this guy isn't a victim either. Hell, he just got free publicity for a map edit he's received ZERO money for... past, present and future. Take the publicity and shut up, dude.

Copyright is something you opt-out of owning, not opt-in. So long as he can prove himself to be the original maker then he legally owns the copyright. The only reason you would file any of this with the government is to prove the date of your creation of the work and to make your ownership better known as copyrights filed with the government can be easily searched to avoid all this kind of crap in the first place therefore it also puts a limit on the damages he could sue for, if he was even suing. The only way an image you make would be public domain is if the work is explicitly labelled as being public domain. Therefore he does have a leg to stand on in the conversation.

This conversation played out so many times in the case of Christopher Torres/Charles Schmidt vs Warner Bros for their inclusion of Nyan Cat/Keyboard Cat in the Scribblenauts series. It's giving me flashbacks so bad. So instead let's all focus on the pun in a title like "The Last Of Us Faces Another Rip-Off Accusation" when the first accusation was of the last of us doing an actual rip-off of another's face.

 

[Mayamellissa]

Wow... Now I know why people make fantasy worlds instead using more real places. Also why is Ellen Page getting all pissy if Ellie looks like her? Anna Paquin looks like Lisa from the original 98 Silent Hill game cutscenes and she's never said anything about that. Celebrities are nuts.

 

[LazyAza]

As an artist who posts their work online all the time I completely understand this guys fury. It is one thing for your work to just be online but for someone else to use it without your consent in a commercial product is absolutely not ok. If ND had contacted him, paid him a small amount to get permission to use his work that would be fine, any artist would say cool awesome thanks to that. But they didn't, so he has every right to demand compensation for this.

 

[K84]

The maker of an unofficial Boston transit map.

There.

unofficial

His claim is invalid.

 

[The_Echo]

Well, you know...

Maybe Cameron Booth should be paying the people who actually designed the Boston transit system.

The Boston transit layout isn't his intellectual property.

 

[oooooooooooooooooooooooooo]

The maker of an unofficial Boston transit map.

There.

unofficial

His claim is invalid.

No, you don't need to stick the word 'official' onto something to own its intellectual property.

Anyways, like a few have already said, I'm quite astounded by how many people are backing ND. They are a massive multi-million dollar corporation, there is no way they just accidentally stumbled across this in a google search and innocently stuck it in their game. They did this knowing full well that they were stealing from someone and it's fantastic that they are getting called on it.

 

[Amaror]

I need to see the legality of this guy's rip off of the MBTA map first and then I need to see his legal rights to this image. Until then I am neutral.

I didn't research it, how it is with the MBTA, but when it is an organization of the state, their maps are public domain.

Does it strike anybody else that he's accusing naughty dogs of doing to him what he did to the boston government? It's like a theif reporting a watch of his getting stolen, and when they ask how much the watch cost him and where he got it, tells them "ten minutes and a lock pick down at a jewelry shop."

If something is "copyrighted" by the goverment, it's public domain.

 

[SNCommand]

I would have confused Booth's map as public domain as well considering it had a link to www.MBTA.com

 

[Lonewolfm16]

As much as I would love to back somebody using the same tactics that big businesses use to screw over your average joe this guy comes off as a massive dick just trying to money grub it reminds me of that guy that tried to sue Rockstar Games cause he looked kinda like CJ from San Andreas

We're talking about the theft of someone's livelihood here, not a passing resemblance to an intangible quality.

More power to him.

Except the map wasn't his livelihood. it was made as part of a hobby. And as others have pointed out, he used the logo of the MBTA... meaning he violated copyright in his creation of the map in the first place.

 

[Lono Shrugged]

The guy created something based on a real place that was used in a commercial property without his permission. Arguing it's based on a real place, based off another design, or unofficial is irrelevant. Like saying you need to pay the city of New York for selling a painting of Central Park. The guy must have been jumping around when he realised he won the copyrighting sweepstakes. Kick up a fuss and get an out of court settlement. I doubt he could give a shit about the copyright until he sniffed a profit. Hell I bet if they only obtained his permission on day 1 he would be tweeting like hell and putting Naughty dog on his design portfolio. This way he gets a nice bit of dough and a credit for additional material. Not a bad win for this guy.

Edit: As for him using the transit logo. That's between him and the transit authority now. And I am sure they have much better things to do than fight pointless tiny copyright infringements.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

With all due respect, nice as the map may be, it is a map of train stations. While I realise they are still infringing on intellectual property, and it definitely should have been cited and the author credited, is it being that map and not any one of the billion freely available state transit maps important?

 

[K84]

The maker of an unofficial Boston transit map.

There.

unofficial

His claim is invalid.

No, you don't need to stick the word 'official' onto something to own its intellectual property.

Anyways, like a few have already said, I'm quite astounded by how many people are backing ND. They are a massive multi-million dollar corporation, there is no way they just accidentally stumbled across this in a google search and innocently stuck it in their game. They did this knowing full well that they were stealing from someone and it's fantastic that they are getting called on it.

It's a hobby made rendition of a subway map.
More like some weird kind of fanart actually.
Is that intellectual property nowadays, really?

 

[Kahani]

Actually, it does. Copyright is granted to whoever created something in the US. You might be able to claim that the creation was derivitive or something, but, barring that, he has a copyright on the image. You do not have to distribute or even regsiter a work to have it protected by copyright. Not registering it will decrease the types of damage you could sue for.

Very much this. Anything is copyright as soon as it is created. The question in this case is not whether the map was copyright or not, but simply whether this guy changed enough for it to be considered his work or if copyright would remain with whoever made the original. However, there is another important point to consider:

"Naughty Dog seems to have known that they couldn't use the official map without paying a hefty license fee"

How exactly does he know this? I rather doubt Naughty Dog have published all the information about what they've licensed and from who. It's entirely possible that they actually have paid that hefty license fee and thought they were using the official map. Given that he hasn't actually changed much and left all the logos and such in place, that would be a very easy mistake to make.