Capcom Sued By Photographer Claiming They Used 80 of Her Photos Without Licensing

Lengthy-time Slashdot reader UnknowingFool summarizes a report from Polygon:

Photographer Judy Jurasek has sued Capcom for copyright infringement of no less than 80 of her images of their latest recreation, Resident Evil: Satan Could Cry and different video games. Jurasek claims the textures within the online game the place copied from her 1996 e-book Surfaces which contained 1,200 pictures of surfaces and textures. The e-book was bought with a CD-ROM with digital copies of the pictures. Jurasek’s damages may complete $12M from Satan Could Cry alone.

Jurasek claims that Capcom by no means licensed the pictures to be used of their video video games. The preliminary submitting is over 100 pages with many detailed photographic examples of her claims. A part of her proof comes from Capcom’s 2020 information breach. The info breach leaked amongst different issues information and filenames of pictures utilized by Capcom. At the very least one filename seems to match these discovered within the CD-ROM from Surfaces.
Jurasek can also be searching for further damages of $2,500 to $25,000 for every used {photograph} for “false copyright administration and removing of copyright administration,” in accordance with Polygon’s report, which says she’s alleging her pictures had been used for “every thing from marbled textures to ornate sculptural particulars which might be recognizable and plentiful in Capcom video games,” and even the shattered glass texture used within the Resident Evil 4 brand.

A Capcom consultant advised Polygon that the corporate is “conscious of the lawsuit” and has “no additional remark.”