In a move that can match some of the best the RIAA has to offer, Game Informer recently threatened legal action against a Rock Paper Shotgun reader for tweeting a post from the blog. The post in questioned used "exclusive" images from Game Informer's site and were also in the magazine and posted them along with a rant about how screenshots can't be exclusive. It was essentially against the idea that one a site especially on the internet can "own" an image. In his post, John Walker cropped the watermark from the image, while, in a fit of legal irony, linked back to Game Informer where he got the images from. RPS reader Dean Bowes posted a link on twitter and quoted some of Walker's rant. This is where things get stupid. Game Informer Editor in Chief Andrew Reiner responded, on twitter, with "Please remove those images or we'll seek legal action." Soon after he realized it was only a reader and not a member of Rock Paper Shotgun and so he responded in private with Walker unlike the public declaration against the reader about removing the images. John Walker has since replaced the images with copyright free pictures of paintings mostly. He also updated the post with further rantings against the "idiocy."
Walker understands it's bad to post an image without linking the source, but he did and really the post was a big advertisement for Game Informer. He understands it is professional courtesy to link back to where you got the information, but he did. So in conclusion, Game Informer gets mad because someone wrote a post advertising their site and magazine.
*Head desk*
*Images courtesy of Game Informer
