3 Count: X-Plosive News

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1: AFP News Agency Sues Elon Musk’s X Over Copyright Issue with News Sharing in Europe

First off today, Sheri Wash at UPI reports that the AFP news agency has filed a lawsuit in France against social media service X, formerly known as Twitter, claiming that the service has refused to even negotiate royalties for news content displayed on the service.

The lawsuit follows a new EU law that requires social media sites, like X, to pay royalties when they use links, images and other content from news sites. According to AFP, both Google and Meta have already reached agreements to pay some French media, but that X has stubbornly refused to even negotiate.

The move comes amid a flurry of new laws targeting social media sites in this space. This includes a new law in Canada, which prompted Meta to block relevant news organizations, and a similar law being proposed in Australia.

2: Upper Deck Alleges Copyright Infringement with Disney Lorcana Lawsuit After Ravensburger’s Motion to Dismiss

Next up today, Shannen Michaelsen at WDW News Today reports that the trading card company Upper Deck has refiled a lawsuit against a former contractor alleging that they stole Upper Deck intellectual property when developing the Disney trading card game Lorcana.

The lawsuit was filed against Ryan Milton, described as a former contractor for the company. Upper Deck alleges that he, along with his company Ravensburger, took elements of an unreleased game by Upper Deck named Rush of Ikorr, and used it to build the Disney game Lorcana.

Previously, Miller had sought dismissal on jurisdictional grounds. The case was filed in California, though Milton claimed to have had no contact there. This prompted Upper Deck to amend the lawsuit, with new paragraphs highlighting contracts and agreements signed by Miller that indicate the jurisdiction is proper. Miller and Ravensburger are being sued for breach of contract, copyright infringement and unfair business practices among other allegations.

3: The Last of Us Knock Off Removed from Nintendo eShop as Sony Stakes Copyright Claim

Finally today, Victoria Kennedy at Eurogamer reports that The Last Hope: Dead Zone Survival has been pulled from the Nintendo eShop following a copyright claim made by Sony.

Reviews of the game were extremely negative, referring to it as “shovelware” for the Switch. However, what caught most people’s eyes was that the game appeared to be a (poor quality) clone of the much more popular Last of Us series of games on the Sony PlayStation.

However, The Last Hope is no more as Sony has filed a series of copyright infringement notices against the game that has not only removed the game itself, but videos and trailers of it. Those who purchased the game before the removal can still play it, though it will likely not be available for download in the future.

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