A project to reproduce 'Grand Theft Auto' by reverse engineering has been suspended due to copyright infringement

A project to reproduce '3 ' and ' Vice City ' of the super popular game series 'Grand Theft Auto (GTA) ' series, which is characterized by crimes such as stealing vehicles and running around, by reverse engineering , Although it does not contain files that directly infringe copyright, it has been suspended on suspicion of copyright infringement.

Vice City & Grand Theft Auto III's Source Code Has Been Reverse-Engineered
https://kotaku.com/vice-city-grand-theft-auto-iiis-source-code-has-been-1846276050

Take-Two DMCA takes down reverse-engineered GTA source code | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/02/take-two-dmca-takes-down-reverse-engineered-gta-source-code/

'Re3' and 'reVC' are open source projects that reproduce 'Grand Theft Auto 3 (GTA3)' and 'Grand Theft Auto Vice City (GTAVC)' by reverse engineering. Both projects, in which all volunteers who claim to be GTA fanatics themselves worked enthusiastically, not only reproduced the original game, but also fixed bugs, added debug menus and camera modes, controller compatibility, and loading. It was an 'original improvement version' that added reductions and the like.

re3 and reVC Showcase --YouTube


In order to avoid copyright infringement of 're3' and 'reVC', it was necessary to copy and insert content protected by copyright law such as image files and music files from the original game. However, on February 20, 2020, the project on GitHub received a notice that the copyright holder infringed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

dmca / 2021-02-19-take-two.md at master · github / dmca · GitHub
https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/master/2021/02/2021-02-19-take-two.md

There are precedents in the United States that attempts to 'reverse engineer source code from compiled binaries' are legal in research, interoperability verification, and certain fair uses. However, the GTA End User License Agreement clearly states that 'reverse engineering, decompilation, disassembly, creation of derivatives, and other modifications to all or part of the software are prohibited,' and Blizzard. There is a precedent that a ruling was issued in 2005 ordering the project to reverse engineer Battle.net.

According to aap, the representative of both projects, publisher Take-Two Interactive Software had no reaction when the project attracted attention in September 2020 and was proactive about copyright issues. The fact that Nintendo, which is known for showing a good attitude, has not taken any action on the reverse engineering project of Mario 64 also led to the feeling that 'game publishers will miss this kind of project'. ..

Aap said contacting Take-Two Interactive Software for confirmation could trigger a proceeding, noting that the DMCA infringement claim filed against GitHub could be a malicious mischief. He explained that it was a situation where he could poke a prank and put out a snake. In January 2021, he started a project 'reLCS' to 'port the PlayStation Portable game' Grand Theft Auto Liberty City Stories 'to a PC by reverse engineering', but in the future It can be said that dark clouds are now crowded.