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Rockstar Finally Wins a Lawsuit
Eurogamer is reporting that Rockstar Games has finally won a lawsuit. It's an important one too, involving a strip club's objection to its appearance (in satirized form) in the streets of San Andreas. From the article: "Rockstar conceded that its artists worked from photographs of real life LA locations - including the Play Pen - when designing the game, but argued that they 'changed the names, building designs and overall look and feel of the locations... To make them fit the virtual, cartoon-style world of San Andreas and the series' irreverent tone.' Rockstar also referred to the lawsuit MCA Records successfully defended over the song Barbie Girl, when the judge ruled that trademark rights 'do not entitle the owner to quash an unauthorized use of the mark by another who is communicating ideas or expressing points of view.'"
If these business don't like photos taken of them from public streets, they should cover their storefronts with plain brown paper and remove all identifying and distinguishing characteristics.
Where were you when the voynix came?
"Defendants' use of the Play Pen trade dress and trademark bears some artistic relevance to the game, and does not explicitly mislead consumers as to the source or content of the game."
Very nice.
One man's -1 Flamebait is another man's +5 Funny.
Then again, they had no chance of winning. They didn't have the "thinkofthechildren" edge that most successful lawsuits against videogames require in order to win.