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Duke Nukem 3D composer is suing Randy Pitchford, Gearbox, and Valve

Bobby Prince alleges that he never gave permission for the music to be used, nor did he receive any money from it.

Brittany Vincent

September 30, 2019 10:15 AM

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Duke Nukem 3D composer Bobby Prince has officially filed a lawsuit against Randy Pitchford, Gearbox Software, and Valve.

Prince wrote music originally for Doom, Doom 2, Wolfenstein 3D, and Duke Nukem 3D, and now claims that music he wrote was used in 2016's Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour without him receiving any sort of compensation and more importantly without his permission.

Prince submitted a lengthy document by way of the U.S. District Court – Eastern District of Tennessee, where his attorney described how apparently 16 songs by Prince were utilized back in 1996 in Duke Nukem 3D thanks to an agreement with Apogee. That license stated that Apogee's rights were "limited use" to the tune of $1 royalty per unit sold, and Prince had registered the copyrights of each song. When Gearbox Software bought rights to several parts of the Duke Nukem games in 2020 from Apogee, Prince claimed that the company also used this music in the updated version of Duke Nukem 3D.

Prince says he tried to get in touch with Pitchford asking for royalties for the music, was told he would "taken care of," but that Pitchford would not remove the music from the game. Prince allegedly never received any money from the music's usage.

Prince also tried to speak to Valve, who reportedly was of no assistance.

"Valve ignored a takedown notice, thus waiving any immunity under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and continued distributing infringing copies of the music despite knowing that Mr Prince owned the copyrights in the music," reads the complaint.

All parties have 21 days to respond to the suit. We'll keep you updated on whether or not there are any sort of official statements on the matter, though there are yet to be any from the parties yet.

Brittany Vincent

Senior Editor

Fueled by horror, rainbow-sugar-pixel-rushes, and video games, Brittany is a Senior Editor at Shacknews who thrives on surrealism and ultraviolence. Follow her on Twitter @MolotovCupcake and check out her portfolio for more. Like a fabulous shooter once said, get psyched!