According to Reuters (a real news agency), a movie producer who owns the rights to George A. Romero’s classic “Dawn of the Dead” is suing Capcom over copyright disputes. MKR Group, who owns the rights to Romero’s classic zombie film, claims that Capcom’s Dead Rising is, in essence, a video game version of “Dawn of the Dead”.

MKR Group’s complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in New York this past Monday, partially reads:

Both works are dark comedies. In both, the recreational activities of the zombies and absurdly grotesque ‘kill scenes’ provide unexpected comedic relief…

…Both works privided thoughtful social commentary on the ‘mall culture’ zeitgeist, in addition to serving up a sizable portion of sensationalistic violence.

Uh… duh? Seriously, who didn’t see this coming a mile away? When Dead Rising was first released, there was a sticker on the damn jewel case that informed people that this was not based directly on “Dawn of the Dead” — that’s how similar the two are.

While I hate to see any video game publisher (even EA) sued over matters like this, in this instance I can see where MKR Group is coming from. After all, there really is no denying it: Dead Rising IS Dawn of the Dead. In fact, I only have one question for MKR Group:

Why did you wait for a year and a half after the game’s release for this? The timing seems fishy to me.

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