3 Count: Mythical Infringement

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1: Steam Removes Popular Chinese Strategy Game After Ark: Survival Evolved Studio Claims it Stole Their Source Code

First off today, Andy Chalk at PC Gamer reports that the popular Chinese-made strategy game Myth of Empires has been removed from Steam following a claim from Studio Wildcard, the team behind the game Ark: Survival Evolved.

According to the takedown notice, Angela Game, the makers of Myth of Empires, was founded in 2020 with at least one person from Studio Wildcard’s parent company. This, combined with the similarity between the games caused Studio Wildcard to become concerned and, when they examined the code, they found numerous examples of matching code.

As such, Studio Wildcard filed a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notice against the game, securing its removal from Steam. Angela Game, for their part, has vowed to defend against the claim and, meanwhile, will be continuing “normal operations and development work.”

2: Google Pays €500m French Fine Over Copyright Row

Next up today, the AFP reports that Google has paid a €500 million ($564 million) fine that was levied against it in France.

The fine was handed down by a French regulator due to allegations that Google was not negotiating in good faith with French publishers. This was a requirement of a recently adopted EU copyright directive that was passed into French law.

Google has now paid the fine as part of its ongoing negotiations with French publishers. However, since more than two months has passed since the fine was handed down, publishers can seek additional penalties already.

3: Marvel Comic Book Artist’s Kids Demand Copyright In Brooklyn Fed

Finally today, Kathleen Culliton at Patch reports that the children of comic book artist Gene Colan have filed a response to Marvel’s lawsuit challenging their notices of copyright termination.

The heirs filed a notice of copyright termination, stating that they were seeking to reclaim the copyrights in Colan’s work. That work included the Marvel characters Captain Marvel and Falcon. However, after they filed the notice, Marvel filed a lawsuit claiming that Colan’s work was a work made for hire and doesn’t qualify for copyright termination.

Now the heirs have hit back with a counterclaim that allege Colan was an independent contractor, using his own studio, supplies and time to create the characters. They claim that Colan was compelled to side a one-sided grant and that copyright termination does apply in this situation.

The 3 Count Logo was created by Justin Goff and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.

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