Category — Music/Audio Cases

THQ Sued Over Use of Song in SmackDown! Without Authorization

September 20, 2006 at 2:02 pm - by Dale Dietrich

A New York musician, Michael Tumbarello is seeking $12 million in damages for the alleged use of his song, King of the Mat" in THQ's SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006 game. Among other claims, Tumbarello is seeking $3M each for copyright infringement, misappropriation of property and violation of New York civil rights law.

Dale's Comment: The clearing of rights to all intellectual property content is a critical and daunting task for all video game developers. This case shows the importance of this too frequently overlooked issue.

Sources: GameSpot | Yahoo! Games

Categories: Music/Audio Cases

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Fair Treatment of Music and Composers in the Games Industry - A Personal Perspective

February 15, 2006 at 7:41 pm - by Dale Dietrich

Game industry lawyer, Jim Charne discusses in-game music licensing and strategies. Music in games, as in motion pictures, consists of two components. These are licensed incidental soundtrack music, and underscore composed specifically for the project.

Source: GameDaily.biz Feature

Categories: Copyrights, Featured Articles, Music/Audio Cases

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Namco, Sony Music Settle Over Pac-Man Samples

August 29, 2005 at 3:45 pm - by Dale Dietrich

Namco America and Sony BMG Music Entertainment have announced that the companies have settled a complaint filed by Namco alleging that sounds from its video game Pac-Man were used in the song of a Sony BMG artist. Namco’s complaint alleged that the sampled portions were not cleared. The terms of the settlement were not revealed.