



Last August, phone calls for Acquire Two Interactive’s Crimson Useless Redemption (RDR1) to land on Computer appeared they may well be answered by the developer at the rear of the ‘Red Dead Redemption: Damned Enhancement Project’.

The intended plan of ‘DamnedDev’ (real title Johnathan Wyckoff) was to modify the Xbox360 and PS3 variations of RDR1 and convey the video game to the Computer when strengthening the recreation with greater graphics and more capabilities. In September 2019, nevertheless, Wyckoff discovered that he was getting “bullied” by a company. A lawsuit submitted at a New York court docket in December discovered that Take-Two was using motion to bring the undertaking to an conclude.

Citing breaches of its intellectual residence legal rights (direct and contributory copyright infringement) and consumer licensing agreements, Take-Two said that it experienced consistently questioned Wyckoff to cease and desist but when the job continued, it had no other decision than to acquire lawful action. It did so on two grounds.

Firstly, the lawsuit specific the RDRII Undertaking, which reportedly aimed to insert the RDR1 activity map to RDR2. It went on to make statements about the Damned Enhancement Undertaking, which would reportedly enable buyers to engage in RDR1 on Computer system, in which it isn’t formally obtainable, “thereby destroying the market for an formal, updated model from Acquire-Two, and producing level of competition for Get-Two’s Personal computer-version of RDR2.”

The situation has been rolling on for numerous months now and this week Wyckoff filed an response to Get-Two’s lawsuit together with a series of counterclaims.

Describing himself as an “enthusiastic player” and modifier of Choose-Two videogames, Wyckoff 1st presents a small qualifications on what modding is all about, this sort of as increasing video game graphics or altering features. He promises that this exercise is acknowledged by gaming businesses which usually publish a ‘mod policy’ to clarify what sort of mods are authorized. He thinks that he acted inside the boundaries set out in the Rockstar/Take-Two plan.

“Defendant thinks it was performing in accordance with the Plaintiff’s published plan on ‘PC One-Participant Mods’ which suggests that ‘Take-Two has agreed that it frequently will not consider legal motion in opposition to third-bash projects involving Rockstar’s Pc video games that are solitary-participant, non-industrial, and respect the intellectual house (IP) rights of third events,” Wyckoff’s answer reads, referencing the doc below.

From listed here, Wyckoff refutes quite a few of Choose-Two’s allegations, together with that his RDR2 mod “did not comprise maps” from the first RDR1 recreation and that the publisher’s description of the mod appeared to explain a preceding mod he produced (RDRV) “that was abandoned in 2017 at the ask for of the Plaintiff.”

As the over ‘mod policy’ lays out, to satisfy the criteria any mod ought to be non-professional. In its lawsuit, Take-Two implied that donations solicited by Wyckoff were utilised to create the “infringing programs” which were being then used to “drive followers” to his social media and streaming accounts. Wyckoff sees factors in another way.

“Defendant asserts that it is a hobbyist and worked on the venture with no anticipating or soliciting compensation for the mod,” he writes. “Defendant denies receiving any payment for its mod initiatives.”

In its lawsuit, Consider-Two wrote that it experienced hoped to settle the dispute with Wyckoff with out resorting to the courts. On the other hand, the corporation statements that relatively than ending his actions, Wyckoff suggested that the challenge could get “leaked” by him or others. In his solution, Wyckoff admits to conversations with Acquire-Two but denies that he at any time threatened to leak the project on the internet. In any occasion, he suggests he’s in no posture to do so.

“Defendant no more time has accessibility to the mod project information and does not intend to redevelop them,” he writes. “Defendant will not restart operate on the now-dropped mod documents and has expressly agreed to same,” he provides, noting that all statements that Acquire-Two has been injured in any way are also refuted, not the very least given that the mods were hardly ever released.

In summary, Wyckoff suggests that considering that almost everything he did was in just the parameters of Get-Two’s ‘mod policy’, all copyright infringement claims need to be turned down and the court docket need to concern a declaration to that influence or, in the alternate, identify that Wyckoff is an innocent infringer.

Eventually, he points to the truth that Take-Two’s ‘user agreement’ contains a clause that compels functions in dispute to enter into an arbitration approach (that Consider-Two must pay out for) to settle their dissimilarities. Wyckoff desires that to come about.

Wyckoff’s remedy, affirmative defenses and counterclaims can be observed in this article (pdf)

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Written by David Minister



By David Minister