Capcom settles ‘Resident Evil’ dispute with photographer
A copyright infringement lawsuit over in-game art assets used in several games published by Capcom, including the “Resident Evil” series, has been dismissed, according to documents filed with the Connecticut district court.
Connecticut-based artist and photographer Judy Juracek and the Japanese games publisher submitted a stipulated dismissal with prejudice to the US District Court for the District of Connecticut on Monday, February 7.
Juracek first sued the company in Jun 2021, following a data leak from the developer that allegedly revealed that Capcom had repurposed her photographs from her book “surfaces” to use for art and logos in “Resident Evil” and “Devil May Cry” games.
Juracet called attention to the logo for its 2004 game “Resident Evil 4”, which appeared to use Juracek’s photograph of a glass shatter pattern taken in Italy.
Alongside Juracek’s complaint, a Dutch filmmaker sued Capcom a month prior to Juracek, alleging the game's publisher had plagiarised monster designs in its 2021 Resident Evil instalment “Resident Evil Village”. According to Juracek, this demonstrated a “pattern of misconduct” from the games company.
She claimed that Capcom had sourced the photos from the book and more than 200 images from its packaged in CD which included high-resolution scans of the photographs.
Juracek sought a jury trial and up to $150,000 in damages per unauthorised use of the 80 photographs she had identified, for a total of $12 million, plus attorney fees.
The complaint asked the court to issue an injunction ordering Capcom to destroy each copy of the games including the infringing products and increased damages.
Capcom’s response
In response to the complaint, Capcom said that the “Surfaces” book gave “express license” to use the images by telling readers that the photos are available and “ready to be used in your designs, presentations, or comps, as backgrounds or for general visual information”.
Capcom also held that the book and CD indicated that “no further payment” was expected for use of the images files, and therefore made the basis for her copyright infringement claims invalid.
It also argued that the claims were barred by the statute of limitations, as many of the games cited as infringing had been released more than 20 years ago.
Upon news of the dismissal, Juracek’s lawyer Jonathan Winter, a partner at St. Onge Steward Johnston & Reens, said on the firm's website: “Capcom and Judy Juracek have amicably resolved their dispute concerning the alleged use of Ms Juracek’s photos in Capcom’s games. A dismissal was filed on February 7, 2022, with the District of Connecticut to end the lawsuit.”
Both Capcom and Juracek’s attorneys have been approached for comment.
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