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*Taken from yahoo*
The makers of Grand Theft Auto know a thing or two about stealing cars, but according to one musician, they also know a thing or two about stealing ideas.
IGN reports that Michael "Shagg" Washington, a backup singer for seminal hip hop group Cypress Hill, has filed a lawsuit against developer Rockstar Games and publisher Take 2 Interactive over the unlawful use of his life and likeness in the hit PS2 game, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
Filed in a Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, the suit claims that the developers based the game's protagonist, Carl "CJ" Johnson, on Washington's real life story. Court documents allege this information was gleaned during a two-hour conversation he had with Rockstar in 2003 in which he was asked about his personal experiences with gang life.
According to the complaint, Washington "responded to their questions and related details of his life," which included "how the teen-agers in his gang rode around on bicycles." (Bikes are prominently featured in the game.)
As for why it's taken him a good six years to get around to litigation, Washington insists that Rockstar told him they would notify him if they used him in the game, which they never did. He claims he was only made aware of his appearance in the game when his nephew showed him the title this past July.
"He recalled the meeting in or about 2003, and it began to dawn on him that his image had been stolen for the game," the suit reads. "Upon examination of images of ?CJ' and comparison to his photos from that year and other evidence, it became clear that Rockstar had stolen his image and never paid him." The suit goes on to accuse Rockstar of fraudulently claiming that the character was based on rapper Young Malay.
Washington is seeking 25% of the game's supposed billion-dollar profits -- or a whopping $250 million -- for fraud, misappropriation of likeness and infringement. Rockstar and Take 2 plan on fighting the case in court.
This is hardly GTA: San Andreas' first brush with controversy. Released in 2004, the game came under immediate fire for the inclusion of a sexually-explicit mini-game -- better known as "Hot Coffee" -- that led to a recall and the dreaded 'AO' rating. Not that it mattered: eventually it was re-released with an 'M' rating and would go on to become the best-selling video game for the Playstation 2, with sales eclipsing 17 million copies.
Washington joins a lengthy list of litigious musicians who have gone after video game publishers, including Courtney Love, No Doubt, and, most recently, Axl Rose, who lobbed a $20 million suit at Activision over the inclusion of ex-bandmate Slash in Guitar Hero III.
see this is why kids should not play gta this happends:thumbdown:
The makers of Grand Theft Auto know a thing or two about stealing cars, but according to one musician, they also know a thing or two about stealing ideas.
IGN reports that Michael "Shagg" Washington, a backup singer for seminal hip hop group Cypress Hill, has filed a lawsuit against developer Rockstar Games and publisher Take 2 Interactive over the unlawful use of his life and likeness in the hit PS2 game, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
Filed in a Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, the suit claims that the developers based the game's protagonist, Carl "CJ" Johnson, on Washington's real life story. Court documents allege this information was gleaned during a two-hour conversation he had with Rockstar in 2003 in which he was asked about his personal experiences with gang life.
According to the complaint, Washington "responded to their questions and related details of his life," which included "how the teen-agers in his gang rode around on bicycles." (Bikes are prominently featured in the game.)
As for why it's taken him a good six years to get around to litigation, Washington insists that Rockstar told him they would notify him if they used him in the game, which they never did. He claims he was only made aware of his appearance in the game when his nephew showed him the title this past July.
"He recalled the meeting in or about 2003, and it began to dawn on him that his image had been stolen for the game," the suit reads. "Upon examination of images of ?CJ' and comparison to his photos from that year and other evidence, it became clear that Rockstar had stolen his image and never paid him." The suit goes on to accuse Rockstar of fraudulently claiming that the character was based on rapper Young Malay.
Washington is seeking 25% of the game's supposed billion-dollar profits -- or a whopping $250 million -- for fraud, misappropriation of likeness and infringement. Rockstar and Take 2 plan on fighting the case in court.
This is hardly GTA: San Andreas' first brush with controversy. Released in 2004, the game came under immediate fire for the inclusion of a sexually-explicit mini-game -- better known as "Hot Coffee" -- that led to a recall and the dreaded 'AO' rating. Not that it mattered: eventually it was re-released with an 'M' rating and would go on to become the best-selling video game for the Playstation 2, with sales eclipsing 17 million copies.
Washington joins a lengthy list of litigious musicians who have gone after video game publishers, including Courtney Love, No Doubt, and, most recently, Axl Rose, who lobbed a $20 million suit at Activision over the inclusion of ex-bandmate Slash in Guitar Hero III.
see this is why kids should not play gta this happends:thumbdown:
