‘Baseless accusation’
Last week, Bethesda filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. and Behaviour Interactive over similarities betweenFallout Shelterand the recentWestworldmobile game. Bethesda alleged that Behaviour had stolen code previously used inFallout Shelterthat was copyrighted by Bethesda. They claimed thatWestworldwas a “blatant rip-off,” and are calling for compensation due to punitive damages.
Just yesterday, Warner Bros. spoke to GamesIndustry.biz about the case and gave their side of the story. “The assertions by Bethesda Softworks that Warner’sWestworldmobile game improperly used source code from Bethesda’sFallout Shelterare as surprising as they are unsubstantiated,” a representative for WB told the site. “Warner Bros. has been assured by the game developer, Behaviour Interactive, that Bethesda’s allegations are untrue and that none of Bethesda’s code was used in theWestworldgame. Moreover, contrary to Bethesda’s baseless accusation, Warner Bros. at no time ‘induced’ Behaviour to use theFallout Sheltercode inWestworld.”
It isn’t surprising to see Warner Bros. defend its IP. They even said as much to GamesIndustry.biz, stating they have a deep respect for IP rights. While that is well and good, if Behaviour did secretly copy code from Bethesda, there isn’t much legal ground that WB will have to stand on.
Warner Bros surprised by Bethesda’s “baseless accusation” inWestworldlawsuit[GamesIndustry.biz]
