Seggie c. Roofdog Games Inc., 2015 QCCS 6462
2015-12-18
Read full decision. Summary prepared by Alan Macek:
The plaintiff sought to enforce co-authorship copyright in a video game and its sequel to obtain 50% of the profits generated by the defendants. The defendants allege the plaintiff merely developed some drawings, assigned all rights to the defendant and he never worked on the sequel. The court did not believe certain statements of the plaintiff regarding his claims for profit-sharing and instead finds that he agreed to work for free for his friend on the drawings he provided. The Court concluded that the video game is not a work of joint authorship based on the work each party did, and there was no common intention to create a collaborative work. For the drawings, the Court found there was permission granted to use them in the game, but ambiguity as to the compensation for which the court ordered $10k to be paid. The Court also considered a counterclaim for statements made about the video game and its proprietor and ordered $17k in damages and $5k in punitive damages.