Squenix wins copyright suit

By Games Industry.biz Published 11 December, 2007

Music vid plagiarised FF.

Square Enix has won its legal battle with Korean entertainment company Fantom for plagiarising the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children videogame, GamesIndustry.biz reports.

According to a judge, Fantom had "illegally used 80 per cent of the storyline, setting, characters and their style of dress" for a music video by singer Ivy.

"Square Enix will continue to take decisive action against any infringements upon the company's intellectual property, recognising that this property is one of our most crucial resources," said Yasuhiko Hasegawa, general counsel of Square Enix, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

"This judgement by the Seoul Central District Court is stringent in comparison to other copyright infringement cases in South Korea, and we appreciate that the maliciousness of this infringement has been recognised in a public forum," he added.

Fantom Entertainment has been fined USD 10,900, with additional fines each of USD 6500 for Lee Han-woo, director of the company, and Hong Jeong-ho, director of the music video.

Square Enix says its Final Fantasy franchise has sold more than 75 million copies over its ten year history.

GamesIndustry.biz supports the law, but isn't too keen on those who break it.

Picture of Games.

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Comments (22) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • ShieldOfFaith #1 4 years ago

    80% eh. Every FPS uses 99% of somebody elses work yet are allowed to be sold on a daily basis. Actually when you think about it, every game is just a rip off of another game. Developers have no choice as they've run out of new ideas since originality died over a decade ago.

  • Xiaokiraa #2 4 years ago

    The video was very close to the original, and i thought was quite amusing. Stupid lawsuit in my opinion! lol

  • GamesConnoisseur #3 4 years ago

    Same old arguments, there are only seven kind of stories, and everything is reinventions of any or some of those.

    Orginiality is how you differ from the mass, having unseen features to date, or new way of using the old feature.

    If you think all the game is 100 percent the same or just a clone of the previous similar game, then there is no purpose at all to get Super Mario Galaxy, The Portal (of The Orange Box) or Drake's Fortune!

  • Noctilucent #4 4 years ago

    Good thing you posted this here, too, because I can comment on two mistakes I found, which I could not do on gamesindustry.biz

    1. Advent Children is not a videogame, it is a movie.
    2. Final Fantasy turned 20 this year.

    I wouldn't expect such mistakes on a high-profile gaming site such as yours. Doesn't anybody check things for accuracy?

  • HyperShadow #5 4 years ago

    But the video copies a heck of a lot of Advent Children, the church fight scene iirc, and when its copied to such exact details, thats when it gets wrong.

    It wasn't like Advent Children, it WAS Advent Children. I side with Squeenix on this one.

  • Raziel #6 4 years ago

    Link to video?

  • craigy Verified Senior Developer, Eurogamer Network #7 4 years ago

    @ShieldOfFaith: do you have the exact date that originality died out? "over a decade ago" is a big vague for me.

  • nilay #8 4 years ago

    yep this was an exact copy of advent children but with a rubbish song over the top and dance scenes
    but squeenix only took such a small amount of money i woulda thought it would be larger

  • makememoo #9 4 years ago

    I think people will miss the point of this. they have to do things like this regularly to ensure that courts continue to note that they are actively enforcing their IP/Trademarks.

    Yeah this might not be a big deal really, but if they let things like this slide then when a serious case goes to court defendants can use un-enforced infringement to argue that Squeenix hasn't been active in the past and therefore have less of a case now.
    Edited by 1 at 11/12/07 @ 11:19

  • Slamhound #10 4 years ago

    I bet the author of webcomic RPG World is bricking himself right now.

  • Moz #11 4 years ago

    "Link to video?"

    Go to Youtube and search "Ivy - Temptation of Sonata"

    Is a brilliant video though they really should have asked permission from Square I'm they would have given it gladly as it expands awareness of their product.

    But as mentioned above you have to keep on top of your IP if you start letting people get away with using it with out your concent then it becomes diluted and hard to keep hold of.

  • HiddenAway #12 4 years ago

    Apparently, this is it.

    http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=uJNwWyluuhE

  • Freek #13 4 years ago

    Wow, how did they expect to get away with that?
    It's an almost literal shot by shot copy job except with real actors.
    Edited by 2 at 11/12/07 @ 11:54

  • NewYork #14 4 years ago

    Damn Koreans.

  • kingdumpalot #15 4 years ago

    10 year history? We're arbitrarily ignoring the first six games then?

  • Nikanoru #16 4 years ago

    10 year history? We're arbitrarily ignoring the first six games then?

    Sony wouldn't want anyone to know there was anything before Final Fantasy 7 on the Sony Playstation. ;)

  • kangarootoo #17 4 years ago

    @makememoo

    +1

  • bdc #18 4 years ago

    ShieldofFaith, you have no idea what this copyright suit is about. There is a more than subtle difference between using similair ideas and actually copying frame for frame. If I copied and pasted Halo and called it Gaylo, that's copyright theft. If I made a whole new game with aliens and pink space ships and jeeps and a main character clad in green battle armor, that's me using the same ideas as Halo - but not actually copyright theft. You can't copyright general premises and themes.

    Of course, I do realize you were using this case as a platform for your tired anti-FPS soapbox bullshit. Just try a little harder next time eh, chap?

  • _Price_ #19 4 years ago

    Heh. Alternate ending FTW.

    I'm a little surprised they went straight to the courts, would have been more PR-savvy to try and negotiate a fee first (assuming they didn't that is).

  • wakka2k5 #20 4 years ago

    OMG how blatent is that, i means seriously, copyright lasts for the life if the original creator and 50 years after their death......god thats just stupid to copy

  • hjarg #21 4 years ago

    I'd rather sue them for raping Beethoven's "Elise", but that's just me.

  • Hamflank #22 4 years ago

    10.900 us dollar, that's like... 200 euro.