This article is more than 1 year old

Grand Theft Auto maker lobs sueball at BBC over biopic

Casting Harry Potter as our CEO? The nerve!

A spat between the creators of Grand Theft Auto and the BBC has spilled over into a legal feud.

Take-Two Interactive, parent company of Rockstar Games, has filed suit against the UK broadcasting company over allegations of trademark infringement for its decision to cast a biopic about the games developer's history.

According to the BBC, the Edinburgh games developer has taken exception to a Beeb bioflick based on the conflict between London-based Rockstar and disbarred litigator Jack Thompson.

The planned film would cast former tween wizard and Extras guest star Daniel Radcliffe as Sam Houser, the CEO of Rockstar and enemy of the former US activist lawyer, portrayed by veteran actor Bill Paxton.

The film, titled Game Changer, is already shooting and is scheduled for release in the later part of the year.

The movie depicts the legal battle between the creators of the controversial Grand Theft Auto series and the US lawyer whose crusade to ban the games made national headlines. Thompson would eventually be disbarred from practicing law in the state of Florida.

As Rockstar's flagship title, Grand Theft Auto is one of the most well-known franchises in the console and PC market, infamous for its depictions of violence, crime and other vices. The most recent edition of the game, GTA V, has sold more than 50 million copies worldwide.

"Our goal is to ensure that our trademarks are not misused in the BBC's pursuit of an unofficial depiction of purported events related to Rockstar Games," the developer said in a statement to games site IGN

"We have attempted multiple times to resolve this matter with the BBC without any meaningful resolution."

The Beeb, despite covering a story about itself, could not provide any comment on the matter. ®

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