The legal battle that nearly killed ‘Friday the 13th’
The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinion of Byte or Byte’s editorial board.
Use the fields below to perform an advanced search of Ball State Daily's archives. This will return articles, images, and multimedia relevant to your query. You can also try a Basic search
18 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinion of Byte or Byte’s editorial board.
by Tyler Wheatley The opinions and views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinion of Byte or Byte's editorial board. Friday the 13th, the game, has been in a bit of a pickle as of last summer. Victor Miller, the original film screenwriter in the 1980 classic, claims that he was not employed when he wrote the movie. He has since terminated a grant of rights and reclaimed ownership of property. These claims can be made because of the Copyright Act’s termination right, which states that, “The Copyright Act permits authors or their heirs, under certain circumstances, to terminate the exclusive or nonexclusive grant of a transfer or license of an author's copyright in a work or of any right under a copyright.” If you have not heard of the game, Friday the 13th is a survival-based horror game. The game can up to eight players in one multiplayer session with one player as Jason Voorhees and the others as counselors. The player that is randomly selected to be Jason has the objective to kill the counselors before they can escape the map. There are nine versions of Jason that are playable and fourteen counselors that are playable. Each version of the characters has different strengths and weaknesses. The game is either won when Jason kills all the players, resulting in a Jason win, or a counselor/ all counselors escaping. All of this might be a bit much to sink your teeth in to. All of this started back in 1979 when Sean S. Cunningham and Victor Miller collaborated in the making of Friday of 13th after the success of Halloween. This was not Miller and Cunningham’s first project together, and over the course of Miller and Cunningham working together, Miller entered into a “Writer’s Flat Deal Contract” with the Manny Company, “an entity” made by Cunningham. The contract is a brief agreement with blanks that both parties fill in stating, “[t]he Company employs the Writer to write a complete and finished screenplay for a proposed motion picture . . . presently entitled or designated Friday 13.” Turns out the only boxes that were marked on the contract stated that Miller was only liable for the first draft of the screenplay and the final draft. With this kind of open-to-interpretation contract, Miller claimed that he was work-made-for-hire. U.S. District Court Judge Stefan Underhill, ruled in favor of Miller and had this to say about the case, "I hold that Miller did not prepare the screenplay as a work for hire and that Miller’s Second Termination Notice validly terminated Horror’s rights to the copyright in the screenplay to Friday the 13th.” With all of that wrapped up about as simply as possible, we can finally get into what has been happening to Friday the 13th the game. Gun Media, the company that is partnered with Horror Incorporated, the company in the lawsuit, is in a complete standstill when it comes to making content for the Friday the 13th game. They are not able to make updates to game, add maps, Jason's, etc. There was a leak last year regarding a new Jason and a new map, but that was stopped even before 50% completion according to Gun Media. With Miller winning the case and a complete standstill in the Friday the 13th games, will fans of the game/ genre ever receive what they are looking for in terms of gameplay, or will they be stuck playing what could be a cult classic for years to come?
This week on Remixed we are discussing Nicki Minaj and her new song (also how much we love her), ZAYN and how we feel about him and thoughts on his music, and Bebe Rexha's new songs. All of this and more on this week's episode of Remixed.
This week on Remixed we are discussing the ever popular Drake and Cardi B's newest album, "Invasion of Privacy". Listen to our thoughts on the newest music and much more on this week's episode of Remixed.
On this week's episode of How It's Played we are discussing "Ready Player One." The movie, VR, Nintendo, technology in general, and the future of gaming will be talked about on this week's episode of How It's Played.
This week on Remixed we are discussing The Weeknd's "My Dear Melancholy", Cardi B's "Be Careful", and Tyler, The Creator's "OKRA". All of this and more on this episode of Remixed.
This week on Remixed/ Coven we are talking about inspirational women because this month is International Women's Month! We are also discussing Drake's cover of Lemon, Eminem's controversial new song, Lil Dicky's new song, and Pearl Jam's out-of-the-blue release.
This week on Remixed we are discussing Logic’s new album Bobby Tarantino II. Was it a flop or a banger? Which do you prefer, mixtape Logic or album Logic? All of this and more on this week’s episode.
This week on Remixed we are discussing the ever incredible Kendrick Lamar and his soundtrack for Marvel’s new Black Panther. Join us in the lively discussion over this stellar album release.
This week on Remixed, it's all about the Grammys: winners, performers, nominees, and those who were snubbed.
This week on Pop Tabs, Matt and the gang discuss horror movies topping the box office, Kevin Spacey’s rapid fall from grace, and YouTube claiming to “fix” their demonetization problems. We’ll see how that goes…
Welcome to Pop Tabs: keeping tabs on all things pop culture. Matt, Tyler, and Daley discuss the latest Black Panther trailer and representation in the movie industry, the Nintendo Switch getting a host of new games (including Skyrim), and the novel To Kill A Mockingbird being banned from a Mississippi school’s curriculum. Tune in next week for another episode of Pop Tabs to keep up to date on our entertainment, tech, and culture discussion.
This week on Remixed, we tackle the music of two female powerhouses: P!nk and Demi Lovato. Which pop artist has the stronger record? How does this new stuff compare to their past? All this and more on this week’s Remixed!
It’s 2014 again apparently, because the Remixed crew is talking about Miley Cyrus and Macklemore. Throw in an examination of EDM and we’ve got a fantastic episode of Remixed ready at your listening leisure.
This week we get a little angsty on Remixed as we talk about Marilyn Manson’s newest song, the most recent Fall Out Boy release, and even dive into what the youngest Jonas Brother is up to (fun fact, the world’s greatest Jonas Brother fan is on this episode). All this and more on this episode of Remixed. Check in next week for more music reports, reviews, and remarks.