A designer accused the game developer Capcom of using copyrighted photos to build environments and even the logo of Resident Evil 4.
Designer Judy A. Juracek has filed a US lawsuit alleging that the developer used photos from her book Surfaces, a collection of 1,200 texture images photographed by her and published in 1996.
According to the artist, the book was made to serve as a visual reference for architects, other artists and designers. In addition to the printed copy, the volume came with a CD-ROM with the images. According to Juracek, it was necessary to license the images for commercial use.
According to Polygon, the designer identified around 80 images used in different ways and documented them in more than 100 pages. Among the highlights is a photo of glass being shattered, which, according to her, is present in the logo of RE4:
Much of the evidence Juracek gathered was publicly released after Capcom’s massive data leak in November 2020, which compromised game files, in addition to personal information of company employees.
Analyzing the files, the designer also identified that some filenames matched the names of the photos on the CD-ROM of Surfaces.
A Capcom representative told Polygon that they “are aware of the lawsuit” and that they “have no further comment” on the matter. The artist’s lawyer also did not give further details about the case.
You can check the process, in English, clicking here.
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