Screenwriters’ Sony Suit Tossed

A federal judge rejected claims that Sony’s “God of War” videogame infringes on a series of works from two Northern California screenwriters. U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Hall Patel, in a ruling issued on Tuesday, wrote that the similarities between screenplays written by Jonathan Bissoon-Dath and Jennifer B. Dath were merely “cliched and unprotected elements.” Among other things, the plaintiffs argued that certain scenes and dialogue were similar or identical, such as scenes depicting a gathering of the gods. But Patel said such instances are “stock elements that have been used in literary and artistic works for years, if not millennia.” Moreover, she wrote, they “pointed to no persuasive similarity in dialogue or narration that would suggest actual copying.” “God of War” was released in 2005 for PlayStation2.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118016380.html?categoryId=22&cs=1

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