White Wolf sues Underworld
“White Wolf is suing Sony Pictures”:http://www.white-wolf.com/News/underworldrelease.html, claiming that “Underworld”:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0320691/ infringes on their intellectual property.
I haven’t read Nancy A. Collins’ story; I stopped reading her books when White Wolf started publishing them, although I’m pretty sure that’s just a coincidence. However, it’ll be hard to prove that the story isn’t just Romeo and Juliet retold in a vampires & werewolves mythos.
I suspect that this is going to end up like the current SCO vs. Linux suit. Specifically: the movie and white wolf’s products are both based on the same (public) mythology. After all, ideas cannot be protected by copyright (although many people would like it otherwise); only the specific expression of the idea.
On the one hand, I think they’re going to have a hard time proving their case. On the other hand, since White Wolf fans are also the most likely fans of this movie, Sony might settle the case to avoid a fan boycott of the movie…
On the gripping hand, I will go see it because of “Kate Beckinsale”:http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000295/.
(via “Population: One”:http://popone.innocence.com/archives/001140.html).
2 Comments
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
I am no fan of Sony, but I hope they drag White Wolf through court so long that they (WW) declare bankruptcy. I am so damned sick of people claiming to own ideas — particularly when they are obvious, well-worn ideas that have been the basis of stories for generations or even centuries. I am just so damned sick of it, and frankly WW should know better. Between this type of nonsense and the subversion of the legal system by RIAA and their ilk, it just makes me want to weep.
Gripping hand….hnpf hnpf hnpf….