Before Rockstar revealed Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - The Definitive Edition, they'd been busy issuing DMCA takedowns for longstanding PC mods. Two of these were ‘re3’ and ‘reVC’, reverse engineered modifications for GTA III and Vice City, removing the Github repositories.
Following some DMCA back-and-forth, which saw the modding team strike back with DMCA's counternotice system, publishers Take-Two filed a lawsuit last September. Claiming damages for distributing pirated versions of GTA III and Vice City, they've also alleged misrepresentation in the team's counternotice.
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GTA Modders Are Fighting Back Against Take-Two's Lawsuit
Claiming that the four modders - Angelo Papenhoff, Theo Morra, Eray Orçunus, and Adrian Graber - were "willfully and maliciously" adapting the games' source code before illegally distributing it without consent from the publisher. However, as reported by Torrent Freak, the team are standing firm against this lawsuit.
Arguing both projects are protected under fair use, calling the reverse engineering transformative use of these games. As such, they're arguing that these do not substitute the original products. Furthermore, the defence has also claims these modifications couldn't be achieved without purchasing the original games, which Rockstar recently delisted.
Presently, this case is ongoing, so no definitive ruling has been reached. When that changes, we'll look to keep you updated.
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