A lawsuit has been filed against Valve, Gearbox and its CEO Randy Pitchford after they reportedly added music to Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour without the composer’s express permission.
Bobby Prince, who was also behind the scores on Doom 1 and 2 and the the original Duke Nukem 3D, also says he was never paid after his music was used on 2016’s World Tour game, either.
“Apogee had a limited right to use Mr. Prince’s music in Duke Nukem 3D in exchange for a royalty equal to $1 per unit sold,” the filing to the U.S. District Court stated (via PC Gamer). “The electronic files for the music within Duke Nukem 3D World Tour include text specifically stating that Mr Prince owns the copyright to the music and has reserved all rights to the music’s use. Yet Gearbox incorporated the music into the game without ever contacting Mr Prince and without clearing the rights expressly mentioned in the electronic files.”
Prince states that he previously reached out to Pitchford about the situation and was assured that he would receive some compensation, but after nothing transpired, Gearbox “refused to remove the music from the game” as requested.
Valve, too, refused to take any action. “Valve ignored a takedown notice, thus waiving any immunity under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and continued distributing infringing copies of the music despite knowing that Mr Prince owned the copyrights in the music.”
There should be an update on the lawsuit within the next three weeks.
Wireframe #23 is out now
