Take Two Sues BBC Over Drama About GTA Development

An anonymous reader writes: Take Two Interactive, the parent company of Rockstar Games, is suing the BBC for trademark infringement over its planned "making of GTA" drama, Game Changers. The 90-minute movie was created without the involvement of the studio, which rarely comments on the GTA series' development outside of organised press events. (It is expected that it will draw upon the public conflict between Sam Houser and notorious anti-gaming crank Jack Thompson, via the expose "Jacked" by David Kushner.) After direct negotiations with the BBC failed, Take Two brought suit to "ensure that [their] trademarks are not misused." The details of the suit, Rockstar's objections, and the penalties sought, are not yet known.

Comments

Re:Can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen.

[Anonymous Coward]

They're allowing the filming of a movie about Rockstar with Daniel Radcliffe playing Sam Houser and they want to stop a documentary that's probably going to be a bit more honest?

No. It's the Daniel Radcliffe drama they are suing over.

Trademark Fair Use

[flopsquad]

Between the First Amendment protection for comment/criticism, nominative fair use (how do you do a movie about Take Two without saying "Take Two"?), and zero likelihood of confusion, I don't see how this case has any legs.

See also Louis Vuitton v. Warner Bros (LV's suit over bag scene in Hangover 2 dismissed). This is a good resource generally, though it deals mainly with advertising.

Slap a disclaimer at the beginning of the movie and call it a day. If they want to be extra safe, give it the subtitle "The Unauthorized Take Two Story" or something like that.