A Hollywood screenwriter, William L. Crawford III, is suing Midway, claiming that they stole the idea for their Psi-Ops video game, registered with the copyright office in 2004, from a screenplay he registered in 1998. Crawford's film was never actually made, but he spent time and energy promoting it and is claiming that Midway caught wind of it through one of his efforts. Indeed, the similarities between the game and the script are compelling. Both feature government agents with paranormal powers fighting terrorists with paranormal powers, and even some of the characters, such as a foreign pyrotechnic with a troubled past and slender masculine build, are replicated.
Midway: Alleged Thief
One of the comments below the story on Gamespot raises a good point: why didn't Crawford sue right away? It is because he was waiting for Midway to put resources in to promoting the game and making it a viable franchise. Once it became a viable franchise, Midway would want to hold on to it, not shelve it. The short and skinny: this way, Crawford gets paid more...a lot more
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For all of you that are a bit skeptical about this whole situation I do have some actual facts about this, check it out for yourself.
Here is William Crawford's website (The guy that is suing Midway).
http://www.mindshadowonline.com check out the 'area 23 history' section, it has a lot of info.
and here is a PDF of the basic comparison's of both his screenplay and midway's version of it:
http://www.mindshadowonline.com/press/PressRelease.pdf
(Pretty interesting how Midway just happened to write the same thing, word for word three years after it being presented at the Electronic Entertainment Expo which some reps from Midway had attended)
and here is a PDF on the OFFICIAL COURT COMPLAINT:
http://www.mindshadowonline.com/press/Psi%20Ops%20complaint.pdf
Please do check it out for yourself and see that the man really does deserve more than he is asking for.
I heard that he might make a movie if everything goes successfully.
Josh
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