Capcom ‘resolves’ Devil May Cry, Resident Evil lawsuit over stolen photos

Capcom games like Resident Evil 4 Devil May CryIt allegedly extensively used copyrighted images without permission in order to create environments and details. Resident Evil 4Logo, as per a Friday filed lawsuit

The Connecticut Court filed the initial complaint by Judy A. Juracek on Friday. She claimed that Capcom had used photographs from her copyrighted book. Surfaces, in multiple games, including Resident Evil 4, Devil May CryCapcom Games, including. Surfaces is a collection of 1,200 photographs of textures that Juracek photographed herself; the book is intended to be used for “visual research” for artists, architects, and designers, according to the book’s description. The book was first published in 1996. The collection comes with a CD-ROM of the images — but Juracek said she requires people to license images from her for commercial use by contacting her directly. Juracek stated in the lawsuit, that Capcom has never reached out to her about a license.

Juracek pointed out at least 80 photographs that are used in different scenarios across Capcom’s games, with more than 100 pages of documentation. The lawsuit mentions a broken glass texture that was used in the Resident Evil 4 logo.

Image: Judy A. Juracek/Capcom via court documents

Juracek stated that the photograph of Italy’s glass was taken by her. “It is hard to imagine that Juracek would take a photo of shattered glass in Italy and interior mansion door design and that Capcom artists would reproduce the exact same pattern of shattered glass in a logo and interior design without benefit of Juracek’s photographs,” she said in the lawsuit.

In more than 100 pages of supporting case documents, Juracek pointed out more than 200 instances of her photographs allegedly being used in Capcom’s games. These include everything, from intricate sculptural details to marbled textures that can be easily identified in Capcom’s games.

Image: Judy A. Juracek/Capcom via court documents

Part of Juracek’s evidence comes from the 2020 Capcom data breach, which happened in November. That leak revealed that Resident Evil Village’s launch plans were prematurely revealed, and personal information for hundreds of thousands of people had been compromised, including customers, shareholders, and employees, Capcom said. Capcom received an alleged ransom note from the attackers, which was before any information online. That information included some “high resolution images of artwork used in Resident Evil and other games,” Juracek said.

“The file names for at least one of the images from the Capcom hacked files are the same file names as those used on the [Surfaces] CD-ROM,” she alleged. The lawsuit shows a metal texture that was labeled “ME009” on Juracek’s CD-ROM, and labeled the same in the Capcom folders.

Image: Judy A. Juracek/Capcom via court documents

In the lawsuit, Juracek noted that Capcom was also recently accused of copying Dutch filmmaker Richard Raaphorst’s monster designs for the new Resident Evil Village game. Raaphorst discovered about the allegedly stolen design when fans reached him regarding one of his characters in the film. Frankenstein’s Army being the basis for Village’s propeller-headed bad guy, Sturm, he told Eurogamer.

Juracek’s lawyers are asking the court to award her up to $12 million in damages on a count of copyright infringement. She’s also seeking damages for “false copyright management and removal of copyright management:,” $2,500 to $25,000 for each used photograph.

A Capcom representative told Polygon that the company is “aware of the lawsuit” and has “no further comment.”

You can find the full complaint below.

Update: Capcom has updated this story to add a statement.

Update (June 7, 2021): Jonathan A. Winter, Juracek’s lawyer, told Polygon in an emailed statement: “We put together a very detailed complaint which we think speaks for itself. Other than that, we have no further comment.”

Update, February 8, 2022 Photographer Judy A. Juracek and Resident Evil developer Capcom have filed to dismiss the lawsuit regarding the use of Juracek’s alleged stolen photographs in Capcom games. Information about the outcome of this dispute is not available publicly. Reached for comment, Juracek’s lawyer pointed Polygon toward a prepared statement. Juracek’s lawyer, Jonathan A. Winter declined further comment.

Capcom and Judy Juracek have amicably resolved their dispute concerning the alleged use of Ms. Juracek’s photos in Capcom’s games. The lawsuit was ended by a dissolution filed with District of Connecticut, February 7, 2022.

Capcom has not responded to Polygon’s request for more information.