It seems that the owners of the classic horror film Dawn of the Dead are suing Capcom over the similarities between the film and zombie-killing video game Dead Rising. According to the MKR Group, the productionc ompany that owns Dawn, the facts that the game is set inside a shopping mall, features zombies (in addition to humorous ways to kill them), is a dark comedy, and has a satirical story line which parodies consumer culture, make Rising too close to the movie, which counts therefore as copyright infringement. Check the link for further details:

http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSN2526490820080226?feedType=RSS&feedName=entertainmentNews

While the similarities between Dawn of the Dead and Dead Rising are unmistakable, Rising obviously being inspired by Dawn, what are the owners of the movie trying to say by suing Capcom? Is it that they own the idea of a story of zombies in a shopping mall? Do they own the concept of zombie media parodying contemporary culture? Of course not! It would be ridiculous to assume that such broad, creative concepts belong to a single company or individual. What if I was to write a story where super-powered, gentically-altered humans ran around trying to fight an oppressive government and save the world? Would Marvel be able to turn around and say that my super-heroes were in fact "mutants" and that my story was too similar to the X-Men franchise to be legally viable?

I personally don't think that MKR has much of a chance, but I don't like the sound of what they're saying.