3 Count: Grand Theft Copyright

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1: Ex-White House Photographer Sued for Copyright Over His Own Photo: ‘You Can’t Make This Up’

First off today, Bevan Hurley at The Independent reports that former White House photographer Pete Souza says that he is facing legal threats over his use of a photograph he took on his own website.

According to Souza, he received a threatening letter from the image infringement detection service Copytrack. According to the notice, the photo rights group WENN holds the rights to the image and accused Souza of infringing their copyright.

However, Souza points out two separate problems. First, he took the photograph of President Obama and Hillary Clinton. Second, since he was a federal employee at the time the image was taken, the work itself is in the public domain. Souza served as the White House photographer during both of President Obama’s terms, and also under President Reagan from 1983 to 1989.

2: Bungie’s Copyright Infringement Claims Against AimJunkies ‘Insiders’ Can Continue

Next up today, Ernesto Van der Sar at Torrentfreak writes that video game make Bungie has survived one of the first hurdles in its ongoing case against the AimJunkies with a motion to dismiss being set aside, setting the stage for a potential trial down the road.

Bungie sued AimJunkies alleging that cheat software developed by AimJunkies infringed both the copyright and their trademarks related to the game Destiny 2. The initial complaint was dismissed, with the judge ruling that Bungie did not adequately make their case. However, the judge did permit Bungie to refile and that amended complaint has now survived a motion to dismiss.

AimJunkies continues to argue that the development of cheat software is not an infringement of copyright, though Bungie made claims that code was copied for the purpose of creating the software. AimJunkies also sought to have the claim dismissed on jurisdictional grounds, an argument that the judge also rejected.

3: Original GTA Creator Reports Rockstar Put Copyright Strikes on His Prototype Videos

Finally today, Jonathan Bolding at PC Gamer reports that YouTuber and video game developer Mike Dailly has received several copyright takedowns filed by Rockstar Games over his uploading videos of prototypes of the game Grand Theft Auto.

Dailly was one of the founding members of DMA Design, the studio that created the first Grand Theft Auto (GTA) games. On his YouTube channel, Dailly uploaded several videos showing off prototype versions of the first GTA game.

However, according to his Twitter, he has been forced to pull down those videos and anything else GTA related due to copyright notices filed by Rockstar Games, the current owners of the franchise. Dailly expressed frustrating at now being able to show off his previous work, especially considering that the game is not available for sale anywhere.

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