A tattoo company has filed a lawsuit against NBA 2K16 developer Visual Concepts, publisher 2K and parent company Take-Two Interactive for the unlicensed use of its artwork in tattoos drawn on the bodies of NBA players. Filed in New York federal court Monday by Delaware-based holding company Solid Oak Sketches LLC, the lawsuit claimed the game violated copyrights for eight tattoos drawn by artists Shawn Rome, Justin Wright and Tommy Ray Cornett, who have worked on LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Kenyon Martin, DeAndre Jordan, and Eric Bledsoe, among others. (You can read the full filing here.)
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the tattoos created by Solid Oak Sketches include a “Child Portrait” on LeBron James’ inner left forearm, a crown with butterflies on Kobe Bryant’s right bicep, and a “Script with a Scroll, Clouds, and Doves” on DeAndre Jordan’s right shoulder.
While similar legal battles has played out before, the legal debate over whether a tattoo artist can charge to license the art found on another person’s body has never been unequivocally settled in court. Artist Christopher Escobedo sued now-defunct publisher THQ for the unlicensed use of a “lion tattoo” on UFC fighter Carlos Condit that was reproduced in multiple entries of the UFC: Undisputed Series. Escobedo was awarded $22,500 in 2012 by the judge presiding over THQ’s bankruptcy, though the decision did not establish a legal precedent.
Prior to filing the lawsuit, the company’s attorneys sent a letter demanding compensation for the use of the tattoos, using the ruling and award from the Escobedo case as a guide. Based on the modified circumstances, including the fact that LeBron James and Kobe Bryant are much more visible in both NBA2K16 and real life, the counsel estimated the licenses were worth $819,500, and requested $1,144,000 for a perpetual license fee. 2K has declined that offer.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.