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The Chrysler Building is not in Spider-Man: Miles Morales due Copyright protection

Uzupedro

Uzupedro

Banned
May 16, 2020
12,234
Rio de Janeiro
This is crazy, I hope Insomniac manages to do a negotiation for Spider-Man 2, this is a ''big'' omission (I really like climbing this building).
https://www.gameinformer.com/2020/1...-is-missing-this-major-new-york-city-landmark
As of 1990, architectural works such as the Chrysler Building can be protected under copyright, no different than other forms of art. According to the United States Copyright Office, an architectural work is defined as "the design of a building as embodied in any tangible medium of expression, including a building, architectural plans, or drawings. [...] Examples of works that satisfy this requirement include houses, office buildings, churches, and museums. By contrast, the Office will refuse to register bridges, cloverleaves, dams, walkways, tents, recreational vehicles, or boats (although a house boat that is permanently affixed to a dock may be registerable as an architectural work)."
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"If you have just a basic box of a building that looks like just a generic building, you can't go around and sue every building in Manhattan, and say, 'You have stolen my idea of what a building looks like,'" Michael Lee, the founder of Lee Law, which focuses on brand protection, intellectual property, and influencer law, told Game Informer. "You can't protect the functionality of something, but you could protect the artistic parts of it. So when it comes to certain architecture, whether it has big spires at the top, or whether it has curved glass, whether you see something and you see that it's unique and different, that's absolutely protected by copyright. So in order to reproduce it in either another building or make a derivative work such as a T-shirt, a model, or even putting it in a video game, you need authorization from the copyright owner to reproduce the protected thing – which in this case could be the Chrysler Building."
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"When creating our representation of the city we wanted to include as many landmarks as we could to add to the sense of immersion," James Stevenson, Insomniac's community director, told Game Informer when asked for comment. "Sometimes negotiations to use those locations didn't work out, which was the case with the Chrysler Building in Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales."
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(From Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/PS5/commen...2a66e4242b&utm_source=embedly&utm_term=jyaeyu)
 
Dyle

Dyle

One Winged Slayer
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
29,943
Shame they went with such a boring building in its place, at least replace it with a building in a similar style
 
Kapryov

Kapryov

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,139
Australia
Couldn't they at least made a similar shaped building to put in its place?
The one they went with looks really odd, like a generic building was just stretched out.
 
RisingStar

RisingStar

Banned
Oct 8, 2019
4,849
That's not the only one. 10 Hudson Yards which is one of the tallest towers of Manhattan isn't there either, which was accurately under construction in the original PS4 game, (as it was under construction in 2014 when development of the game started). They definitely should sort this out for the sequel but its a little sad because for similar copyright issues (like the bull) they found good replacements. This Chrysler building replacement is lame af.
 
Stooge

Stooge

Member
Oct 29, 2017
11,228
Yeah, there are a lot of signature towers in NYC that are just "off" a bit or missing completely. It sucks.

I know a lot of building owners are kind of shits and want to protect the "image". 1WTC is completely inaccurate and looks closer to the unbuilt Foster WTC2 design.
 
SeeingeyeDug

SeeingeyeDug

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,004
I wonder if anything similar happened or could happen to MS Flight Sim since it streams the entire planet of satellite imagery.
 
reclaimerzzzzz

reclaimerzzzzz

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,136
Kapryov said:
Couldn't they at least made a similar shaped building to put in its place?
The one they went with looks really odd, like a generic building was just stretched out.
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It says in the article that Sony, Marvel and insomniac don't want to make themselves vulnerable to any litigious actions. Making a building that looks likes the Chrysler building isn't a risk they want to take. Which is why they went with a generic building that looks nothing like the building it's replacing.
 
JoueurN1

JoueurN1

Member
May 15, 2020
1,958
We already had a similar case on Spider-Man Ps4 with the One World Trace Center (Freedom Tower) , and that's when I learned buildings had copyrights.
 
B-Dubs

B-Dubs

That's some catch, that catch-22
General Manager
Oct 25, 2017
32,776
JoueurN1 said:
We already had a similar case on Spider-Man Ps4 with the One World Trace Center (Freedom Tower) , and that's when I learned buildings had copyrights.
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That's funny because I could literally pick out the building I worked at in the game.

Copyrights make sense so someone else doesn't just go and build another version of it in another city, but in a video game? Come on.
 
Bird Feedr

Bird Feedr

Member
Sep 18, 2020
90
My personal favourite looking building in the world, super impressed when I saw it for the first time visiting New York. Bring it back!
 
bry

bry

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,295
I like the look, but the One S, One X Scorpio and the Series S look rly good to me too😭
 
jelly

jelly

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
33,841
Negotiate means money right? They wouldn't allow it in the game unless they got paid?

Why wouldn't you want your building shown everywhere. I understand not wanting to be used in bad things etc. they may not like which is fair but surely just a what are you using it for, that's okay from the owners would suffice.
 
TheMadTitan

TheMadTitan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
27,241
reclaimerzzzzz said:
It says in the article that Sony, Marvel and insomniac don't want to make themselves vulnerable to any litigious actions. Making a building that looks likes the Chrysler building isn't a risk they want to take. Which is why they went with a generic building that looks nothing like the building it's replacing.
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It didn't have to look like the Chrysler building, it could've looked like the Burj Dubai. It could've been Rand Industries. It could've been Dr. Doom Tower.

The point is that they had alternatives they could've done to fill the space with something stylistic even if they couldn't use the original building.
 
Alek

Alek

Games User Researcher
Verified
Oct 28, 2017
8,471
Brazil said:
Destroying a notorious NYC skyscraper in a virtual version of the city is probably not the greatest idea.
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You'd have to get the right to feature it, to actually destroy it anyway...

Anyway, the worst thing about this is probably that the replacement building looks very plain. I don't mind missing iconic structures if they're replaced with something that's at least, on par. I'm sure they could use another impressive looking skyscraper. Insomniac have lots of talented artists...
 
EVA UNIT 01

EVA UNIT 01

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,735
CA
Everyone-my post is not made in some cold hearted manner.
Yes I know its a real place, yes I know people congregate there, yes I know the history.

I didnt mean make some spectacle in game to see-i meant write it out to explain its absence, mention off hand how some villain destroyed it.
Use the lack of it as world building lore.
 
Vinx

Vinx

Member
Sep 9, 2019
1,417
Same thing happened with The Division.

Im surprised city and state names, like New York, havent been trademarked.
 
Rats

Rats

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,112
B-Dubs said:
That's funny because I could literally pick out the building I worked at in the game.

Copyrights make sense so someone else doesn't just go and build another version of it in another city, but in a video game? Come on.
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I can even sort of understand it with new construction. But the Chrysler Building is almost 100 years old. It's ridiculous.
 
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