sisslethecat
Last year we reported on a rather shocking and extensive lawsuit filed by lawyers representing designer and photographer Judy A. Juracek against Capcom for using her intellectual property without compensation. In 1996, Juracek published a reference book/CD combo called ‘Surfaces: Visual Research for Artists, Architects, and Designers‘, which contained hundreds of photographic assets taken by her all over the world. Much to her surprise, a tremendous amount of her work was allegedly used and has been being used in Capcom games dating as far back as Resident Evil (2002), from brickwork and stained glass textures to even the shattered glass texture used in the logo for Resident Evil 4. As such, Juracek filed her lawsuit last year, and we’ve been curiously awaiting an update ever since.
Just last week, it was announced that the case has been dismissed, and Capcom and Juracek’s lawyers have “amicably resolved” the dispute without the need for the courts. While Polygon wasn’t able to get a comment from either Juracek’s lawyer or Capcom, they were directed to a prepared statement and this quote:
Capcom and Judy Juracek have amicably resolved their dispute concerning the alleged use of Ms. Juracek’s photos in Capcom’s games. A dismissal was filed on February 7, 2022 with the District of Connecticut to end the lawsuit.
Hopefully, Juracek was compensated what she was owed (“amicably” would suggest so at the very least) and Capcom won’t have any other weird skeletons unearthed out of the blue like this. A good start to the year at any rate.
[Source]
