Capcom Sues to End Dead Rising Trademark Dispute

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Capcom has filed a complaint in the US District Court for declaratory relief against the MKR Group, which has repeatedly claimed that Capcom's zombie action title Dead Rising (X360) violates MKR's Dawn of the Dead trademark.

The company is seeking attorney's fees and a declaration from the Court that Dead Rising does not infringe on MKR's trademark. A 1978 zombie horror film set in a shopping mall, Dawn of the Dead is considered by many to be a direct inspiration for Dead Rising. A loose remake of the film was released in 2004.

Capcom alleges that similarities between the properties are based on "the wholly unprotectible idea of humans battling zombies in a shopping mall," and cannot stand up as a copyright claim.

The complaint notes that on February 6, MKR informed Capcom, Microsoft, and Best Buy of its intentions to file a claim against the companies for the development, marketing and distribution of Dead Rising in three weeks' time.

The long-running dispute began brewing before the game was released in 2006, with Capcom taking the preemptive measure of placing a label on the Dead Rising box disavowing any relationship to the film. The filing notes that Capcom's complaint is meant as a response to MKR's threat of legal action.

Though MKR claims to own the Dawn of the Dead trademark, Capcom's complaint states that MKR has never filed for the "Dawn of the Dead" trademark beyond "George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead", and a logo depicting a partial shot of a zombie head.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    February 14, 2008 8:35 PM

    They may as well have annouced the Dead Rising sequel is coming this year along side of this law suit. They wouldn't be going after this ruling if they didn't need this out of the way asap before release.

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      February 14, 2008 8:45 PM

      [deleted]

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      February 14, 2008 8:48 PM

      What? Why? The first game came out even though MKR was threatening legal action at the time. Now MKR has given Capcom a deadline: respond within three weeks or we'll sue. So ...they filed first.

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        February 14, 2008 9:08 PM

        Eh, thats one way of looking at it. I don't think Capcom would have jumped first into the courts if they didn't have something coming down the pipe in the very near future. Else they could have let MKR file their suit and played the waiting game while this gets dragged out in court.

        DR2: Holiday 2008!

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      February 14, 2008 8:49 PM

      This is one lame ass lawsuit. as far as i know schools,shopping malls ,stadiums have always been gathering shelters for all kinds of shit . how can they think that they own the rights to zombies attacking a mall .

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        February 14, 2008 8:50 PM

        [deleted]

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        February 15, 2008 8:54 AM

        The starting area at the top of the mall looks like just the movie. Of course it's an homage, and the gameplay of the game has little to do with the movie itself, but it's enough that litigious people would already start counting their money at the thought.

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      February 14, 2008 9:37 PM

      mkr is likely pissed and tried to make a game and it sucked so their suing dead rising. or somthing, heh.

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        February 14, 2008 9:45 PM

        Yea, I wonder if they were the ones who made that craptacular recent of the dead game, I think Twilight?

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