A $10 million lawsuit against a critic for doing his job
Case Study: Digital Homicide v. Jim Sterling
About: Digital Homicide (Indie Game Studio)
Media: YouTube, Video
Industry: Videogames & YouTube
Laws/Legal Case: Romine v. Stanton – Copyright, Assault, Libel, and Slander – US Court for the District of Arizona
Website: Kotaku. https://kotaku.com/angered-game-developer-sues-game-critic-jim-sterling-fo-1765484317
Description
Indie game studio Digital Homicide (DigiHom) became infamous for their extreme reaction to the criticism of YouTuber Jim Sterling in his review video of one of DigiHom’s games released on Steam, Slaughtering Grounds, in November 2014. According to Kotaku, part of Sterling’s channel is “him playing through random games found on Steam, and many of them aren’t very good. This is part of Sterling’s bread-and-butter: making fun of bad games” (Klepek, 2016).
Legal Issue at Stake
Initially, the spat between DigiHom and Sterling was over Sterling criticizing the game for using generic assets purchased or acquired online in his review video, to which the developers defended as necessary from a production standpoint. The developers then issued a DMCA takedown to have Sterling’s review video removed. There was also a back-and-forth of videos between DigiHom and Sterling, as well as an online conversation in order to arrive at some resolution. It then evolved to libel and slander when the developers stated that, in Sterling’s video, they “found the usage of the terms ‘WORST GAME OF 2014 CONTENDER!’ and ‘Absolute Failure’ to describe the entirety of [their] product while not actually evaluating it in its entirety unfair and unreasonable use of our copyright material” (Klepek, 2016).
Libel, according to the Legal Information Institute, is a method of defamation expressed by print, writing, pictures, signs, effigies, or any communication embodied in physical form that his injurious to a person’s reputation, exposes a person to public hatred, contempt or ridicule, or injures a person in his/her business and profession. While the DMCA takedown was in effect for a while, Sterling won his appeal and his review video was reinstated. Following the online conversation, the developers then launched a civil suit against Sterling in March 4, 2016, claiming ten counts of libel per se.
Case Summary [Main Points]
- DigiHom co-founder James Oliver Romine, Jr. alleged that Jim Sterling (whose real name happens to be James Nicholas Stanton) caused damage to his reputation, caused damage to and loss of his product, and caused him severe emotional distress.
- Romine sought $10,761,000 in damages. Destructoid breaks this down to “$2,261,000 for ‘direct product damage’, $4,300,000 in ’emotional, reputational, and financial distress,’ and $5,000,000 in ‘punitive damages.’ Add up those three numbers and you get $11,561,000 — I do not know where the missing $800,000 went and I’ve read every publicly available court document” (Cosimano, 2016).
- Romine was representing himself while Sterling hired lawyer Bradley Hartman of law firm Hartland Titus. Sterling then sought a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
- On January 13, 2017, Judge John Tuchi partially granted Sterling his motion to dismiss, stopping at Sterling’s first point for dismissal. Tuchi gave Romine two options: hire a lawyer and continue his claims as Digital Homicide or amend the suit to explain how he was personally defamed by Sterling. (Romine v. Stanton)
- Romine amended his suit a number of times to the latter, and added more claims against Sterling of civil conspiracy.
- After a few back-and-forth with Hartman, Romine and Sterling both agreed to drop the case with prejudice (it cannot be filed against Sterling again).
Industry:
- Videogames, YouTube
Parties Involved:
- James Oliver Romine, Jr. – Co-Founder of Digital Homicide Studios
- James Nicholas Stanton (Jim Sterling)
- US Court for the District of Arizona
Laws and Legislation related to this article:
- Libel and Slander
References & Works Cited
Romine v. Stanton, No. 2:2016cv00604. (2016, March, 4). Justia. Retrieved from https://dockets.justia.com/docket/arizona/azdce/2:2016cv00604/969057
Libel. (n.d.). In Legal Information Institute. Retrieved from https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/libel
Klepek, P. (2016, March, 17). Angered Game Developer Sues Critic Jim Sterling For $10 Million. Kotaku. Retrieved from https://kotaku.com/angered-game-developer-sues-game-critic-jim-sterling-fo-1765484317
Cosimano, M. (2016, March, 17). Indie developer Digital Homicide sues Jim Sterling. Destructoid. Retrieved from https://www.destructoid.com/indie-developer-digital-homicide-sues-jim-sterling-349283.phtml
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