The developer of the legendary FPS game sues Valve and the creator of Borderlands

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Composer Bobby Prince, who wrote music for Doom, Doom 2, Wolfenstein 3D and Duke Nukem 3Dfiled a lawsuit Gearbox Softwarechief executive officer Randy Pitchford and Valvealleging that the shooter Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour unauthorized use of his songs and without paying compensation.

In documents filed in Federal District Court for the state of Tennessee, Prince’s attorney said 16 of the composer’s works were used in the 1996 Duke Nukem 3D shooter under an agreement with developer Apogee. Accordingly, “Apogee reserves the right to restrict the use of Prince’s music in Duke Nukem 3D in exchange for royalties equivalent to $1 per game unit sold.” Prince has copyrighted the songs.
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Gearbox Software purchased certain rights to the Duke Nukem title from Apogee in 2010. Prince claims the company continued to illegally use his music in Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour, the update. 2016 update of the game. According to the document filed in court, “The electronic documents relating to the music in Duke Nukem 3D World Tour include text stating that Prince owns the copyright and reserves all rights to use the songs. However, Gearbox used the songs in the game without the consent of the author, nor in compliance with the rights mentioned in the electronic documents.”

Additionally, Prince said he contacted Randy Pitchford to request royalties for his work on the 2016 game and was informed that the case would be “taken care of.” But in fact, Prince has never received any money since then. The composer’s attorney said Pitchford also “refused to remove the music from the game.”
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Prince also contacted Valve to discuss the distribution of Duke Nukem 3D 2016 on Steam. However, “Valve ignored the notice to take down the game. As such, the company waives its immunity under the Copyright Act and continues to distribute pirated copies of Prince’s music despite the fact that it’s not. knowing that the author holds the ownership of his works.”

Gearbox Software, Gearbox PublishingRandy Pitchford and Valve have 21 days to respond to the lawsuit.
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