Two men who claim to have come up with the idea for the action title 'Earth No More' are suing 3D Realms for allegedly stealing their idea.
Court documents confirm a report in last Friday’s Dallas Business Journal that states California residents Darin Scott and Edward Polgardy of Cinemagraphix Entertainment filed a copyright suit against 3D Realms in late January.
The plaintiffs claim to have shopped around the idea for a game called Earth No More back in early 2005 to several game companies, including 3D Realms. In June 2007, 3D Realms announced plans to release a game dubbed 'Earth No More' sometime in 2009.
Scott and Polgardy’s complaint accuses the defendants of copyright infringement, unlawful competition, misappropriation, unfair business practices, unjust enrichment, conspiracy and other claims.
The plaintiffs are seeking damages under the US Copyright Act, which can include actual damages such as a disgorgement of profits from the game, statutory damages of up to $150,000 plus attorneys’ fees and an injunction against the 3D Realms’ distribution of the property.
One of the plaintiff’s attorneys, Tre Lovell, told Next-Gen in a phone interview Monday that the average person would “absolutely” be able to tell similarities between the game that Scott and Polgardy pitched and 3D Realms’ announced title.
Now I do not know enough about misappropriation, unfair business practices, unjust enrichment, conspiracy and whatever else they claim. However, I do know about copyright and that there is a very slim chance that they'd be able to win the suit under copyright.
If all they did was 'pitch the idea' and come up with a title, I will go ahead and say that there is no copyrightable work here at all. Ideas are not protected under copyright. It might be protected under patent and even then, it is highly detailed ideas that are put into words and diagrams on paper.
Unless they have documentation of how the game is going to be played, the storyline and many other things that are written in detail and could prove that 3D Realms knows about and read it, they're not likely to win this case under copyright.
