Capcom Reportedly Sued for $12 Million USD for Copyright Infringement in 'Resident Evil' Games
A photographer has alleged that the company used dozens of her images without permission.
Photographer Judy Juracek is alleging that Japanese video game producer Capcom has used dozens of her images without her permission in games including Resident Evil and Devil My Cry. In one of the most recent examples, court documents show that Juracek is claiming that the Resident Evil 4 logo uses infringed assets. She is currently seeking $12 million USD in damages from the megafirm.
In her initial complaint, Juracek alleged that Capcom used unauthorized photos from her copyrighted book, Surfaces, in multiple games. The book contains a collection of 1,200 photographs of textures that Juracek photographed herself and is intended to be used as “visual research” for architects, designers and artists alike. Surfaces was published in 1996 and features a CD-ROM of the images that would require people to license images from her in order to be used for commercial use. Juracek claims that with at least 80 photos used across Capcom’s games, the company never contacted her directly about licensing.
Juracek provided over 100 pages of supporting evidence, she pointed out more than 200 instances where her photographs have been allegedly used by the company. Textures including marbled and sculptural details which are abundant across Capcom games are highlighted in the report. She has also alleged, “The file names for at least one of the images from the Capcom hacked files are the same file names as those used on the [Surfaces] CD-ROM.” Evidence has shown that metal textures labeled “ME009” on Juracek’s CD-ROM is labeled the same in the Capcom folders.
A Capcom rep has spoken to Polygon regarding the case. The company is “aware of the lawsuit” but has “no further comment” at this point.
Elsewhere in gaming, Rainbow Six Quarantine has been renamed to Extraction.
