Remember When – White Wolf Sued Sony over Underworld
Again and again, there is a lot of negative publicity tossed at gaming companies when they send C&D letters or take individuals to court over alleged violations of their IP.
Gamers that are perhaps relatively new to the internet may not be aware of one of the greatest abuses of the American legal system by a game publisher, perpetrated almost 7 years ago by White Wolf, Inc.
Sit down and let Uncle Dane tell you the chilling story…
On September 5th, 2003, White Wolf, Inc. and Nancy A. Collins filed suit in US District court in Atlanta, Georgia against Sony Pictures, Screen Gems and Lakeshore Entertainment, alleging 17 counts of copyright infringement, and a plethora of for the film Underworld, set for release 12 days after.
White Wolf alleged that the Underworld characters, theme and setting were based on Vampire: The Masquerade (© 1991) and Werewolf: The Apocalypse™ (© 1992), both set in White Wolf’’s fictional World of Darkness.
To go one step further, Collins alleged that the Underworld’ script was based on her 1994 short story “The Love of Monsters“, published by White Wolf the the book “Dark Destiny“.
Some of the funniest quotes from this document are the following (after each is my comment in italics):
55: In the World of Darkness, Vampires have the ability to disappear from view. In Underworld, vampires repeatedly vanish from view.- Dracula (© 1897), by Bram Stoker, can do the same.
56: In the World of Darkness, some vampires are capable of amazing speed. In Underworld, some vampires move with amazing speed.
- Dracula (© 1897), by Bram Stoker, can do the same.
57: In the World of Darkness, vampires “have the strength of ten men.” In Underworld, vampires “have the strength of ten men”
- Dracula (© 1897), by Bram Stoker, and The Vampire Lestat (© 1985), by Anne Rice, have the strength of 20 and 3 men, respectively.
58: In the World of Darkness, vampires are divided by age distinctions, and old vampires are more powerful and able to rule over younger vampires. In Underworld, vampires are divided by age distinctions, and older vampires are more powerful and able to rule over younger vampires.
- The Vampire Lestat (© 1985), by Anne Rice, has the same concept.
59: In the World of Darkness, the more ancient and powerful vampires are referred to as Elders. In Underworld, the more ancient and powerful vampires are referred to as Elders.
- The Queen Of The Damned (© 1988), by Anne Rice, has the same concept.
60: In the World of Darkness, vampires, especially Elders, are able to go into a state where they do not rise as normal, but stay alive in an extended sleep or hibernation. In Underworld, the Elders are in a hibernation state where they do not rise as normal, but stay alive in an extended sleep.
- Both The Vampire Lestat (© 1985) and The Queen Of The Damned (© 1988) use this concept.
61: In the World of Darkness, vampires in extended sleep lose blood and become more withered and mummified, and return to normal as they feed. In Underworld, Viktor (a vampire Elder) awakens from extended sleep appearing withered and mummified, and returns to normal the more he feeds on blood.
- This was the same situation in Dracula (© 1897), by Bram Stoker.
62: In the World of Darkness, a vampire in hibernation remains that way until a vampire provides them with blood. In Underworld, Selene (the main character) rouses Viktor from hibernation using her own blood, just as another Elder (Amelia) was supposed to do.
- Wouldn’t this simply be common sense for a blood-drinker?
63: In the world of Darkness, even when in hibernation or when recently rouse, elder vampires command a great power and control. In Underworld, Viktor, the Elder Vampire, “Radiates absolute power and control” even when recently roused.
- The Queen Of The Damned (© 1988), by Anne Rice, has the same concept.
64: In the World of Darkness, vampires are described as “alien”. In Underworld, vampires are described as “alien.”
- Well, they are “strange”, which is what “alien” means.
65: In the World of Darkness, some vampire groups (“Sabbat”) refer to themselves as Covens, and divide into Old World and New World Covens. In Underworld, the vampires divide into Old World and New World Covens.
- Witches also refer to a gathering of themselves as a “coven” (1662 A.D.), and the word itself is Scotch in heritage (circa 1500 A.D.)
I don’t think even a blind man would miss the similarities between the two properties, but they are hardly original to begin with. And the way that the lawsuit was phrased was completely ridiculous. White Wolf claimed in a publicly available legal document that their concepts were original works – failing completely to acknowledge the works of those that came before, like Bram Stoker or Anne Rice, let alone the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter novels by Laurell K. Hamilton.
Then take into account Nancy A. Collin’s claim in the suit:
Apparently they are marketing this as a remake of Romeo and Juliet. What I think they really mean is that it’s an on-screen adaptation of my story.
Right there, Collins is nearly accusing of someone “ripping off” her story, which in turn is a “rip off” of another story by another author. The Romeo and Juliet angle has been done to death (no pun intended) over the years by publishers and Hollywood alike – and adding the “Beauty and the Beast angle” certainly isn’t original, either.
But be that as it may – this case was the very definition of frivolous.
What is worse is that the case was actually settled “confidentially” on September 7, 2004. No-one really knows what happened, but I would imagine that Sony just paid White Wolf a bunch of money to shut up and stop trying to hurt their image with bad press.
So the next time that Games Workshop or Wizards of the Coast decides to protect their IP – remember – GW isn’t suing the Marine Corps over the name “Marine” and WotC isn’t claiming that they invented dragons. They are protecting their rights as a company.
White Wolf just made damn fools out of themselves for a bit of money.
