Sony and David Jaffe Being Sued

Posted by Aerfox

on Sep.17, 2008 at 10:00 pm

SCEA and designer David Jaffe are being sued on allegations of God of War copyright infringements.

The plaintiffs allege that in 2002 they sent their work to Sony Pictures as well as agents who also did business with SCEA. Bissoon-Dath and Barrette-Herzog note that the original God of War shipped in 2005 and that David Jaffe apparently said at some point that the game had taken three years to develop.

Beyond the alleged similarity in the time line, the plaintiffs also claim that GoW shares elements of plot, character relationships, themes, settings, mood, pace and dialogue with their works. Bissoon-Dath and Barrette-Herzog list seven pages of what they allege are suspicious similarities between their work and God of War. By way of example, here a few of the claims are made by the plaintiffs:

Plaintiff’s works tell the original story of how a champion saves Athens from destruction by the invading Spartan army that has been sent by Ares… [GoW]… is the story of how a champion chosen by Zeus and Athens saves Athen from destruction by an invading army sent by Ares…

In plaintiff’s original work and God of War, the Champion’s family is hacked to death in a one-room building in a small peaceful village. In both stories the Champion feels partially responsible even though he is not really to blame…

In exchange for Kratos’ pledge, Ares gives him… the Blades of Chaos… two massive, glowing, sword-like blades fastened to chains fused to Kratos’s wrists… These Blade of Chaos are taken directly from a scene in Bissoon-Dath’s work… “As Zeus strides forward… his hands MORPH into two massive swords that glow like light sabers…”

…Owen must cross the Bottomless Valley over a long, sagging suspension bridge, shown on Barrette-Herzog’s map… in God of War Kratos must cross the Bottomless Chasm on a long, sagging suspension bridge…

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