Last June, photographer and designer Judy A. Juracek claimed thatCapcomhad stolen work from her and used it in multiple games, includingDevil May CryandResident Evil 4, with the latter’s own logo allegedly using Juracek’s photos. Unsurprisingly, this resulted in Juracek filinga lawsuit against Capcomfor one count of copyright infringement and one count of false copyright management.
There has been little talk of the lawsuit since then, but it sounds likeCapcomand Juracek were able to settle matters outside of the courtroom, with a dismissal being filed on February 7th with the District of Connecticut. There are no exact details on what sort of agreement Capcom and Juracek came to.
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When pressed for comment by Polygon, Juracek’s lawyer only directed it to a prepared statement posted on the website for legal firm St. Onge Steward Johnston & Reens LLC. The statement simply says that Juracek and Capcom resolved their dispute amicably, with no mention of whether Capcom agreed to pay for damages. Polygon also approached Capcom for a comment, but it did not respond.
Capcom likely did meet Juracek’s demands given how much evidence she provided to prove the company’s guilt and that it had allegedly been using her work uncredited for years. The firstDevil May Cryreleased in 2001, withResident Evil 4launching in 2005 and enjoying multiple re-releases and ports since then.
According to her, at least 80 photos from her bookSurfaceswere used over 200 times, including one of a specific shattered glass texture used forResident Evil 4’s logo. The book includes a CD with the photos on it, but anyone wishing to use them for commercial use needs to license them from Juracek first, which she says Capcom didn’t do.
What helped her was the2020 Capcom security breach, which saw a swathe of undisclosed information regarding Capcom’s titles be leaked online. Aside from unannounced games, this included assets and artwork from games such asResident Evil 4.
Her lawsuit also noted the controversy surrounding theResident Evil Villageenemy Sturm, a humanoid monster with a plane propellor for a head. Sometime after the game released, Dutch filmmaker Richard Raaphorst accused Capcom of copying the design of one of the monsters from hisFrankenstein’s Armymovie after being alerted by fans of his. Capcom never officially responded to those accusations and no changes were made to Sturm’s design nor was the game updated to credit Raaphorst.
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