Software IP Investigations in the Movies: <i>Free Guy</i> (2021)

When most people see the 2021 action-adventure/comedy film Free Guy, they probably enjoy watching an adorably innocent character in an absurdly violent video game world. Or perhaps they empathize with an AI grappling with questions of reality and the meaning of his own existence. But as for me, I see a software intellectual property investigation that could have gone much more smoothly.

First, a spoiler-free synopsis of the relevant legal facts: Millie and Keys developed Life Itself, a video game with unusually powerful artificial intelligence. Soonami Studio, a major game publisher, buys the rights to their software, but shelves it in favor of Free City, a wildly popular game that both Millie and Keys find distasteful. However, Millie is convinced that Soonami is actually using code from Life Itself in Free City without paying them royalties, and she goes on a mission to prove it. Keys, who now works for Soonami, is torn between helping his former cofounder and abiding by the confidentiality agreement he has with his employer.

The film illustrates the pitfalls of not involving third-party investigators in cases of IP theft. Much drama in the movie arises from the search for technical evidence, by the plaintiffs themselves, in their opponent’s live production game. In the process, they violate non-disclosure agreements, and prompt malevolent actors to try to cover their tracks. Suffice it to say that many virtual lives and worlds could have been spared with better litigation strategy.

The conflict between video game developers that drives the film’s plot is all too similar to lawsuits we’ve worked on. It’s not uncommon for a licensing party to be rightfully suspicious of how a current or former licensee is using its proprietary source code. Software as complex and opaque as video games can be particularly susceptible to misappropriation. For example, in Silicon Knights v. Epic Games, our team investigated significant copyright infringement and trade secret theft of an advanced game engine. True, the technology at issue in this case did not result in the emergence of genuine artificial general intelligence as in the movie. Still, it did result in a verdict of millions of dollars in damages against our opponent.

Incidentally, the characters could have easily dropped by our offices for a consultation: the frenzied video game world in the movie was filmed in Boston’s financial district. When the virtual protagonist emerges from his virtual workplace, he’s about a block from our real-life headquarters.

Free Guy still

Still frame from the Free Guy official trailer, showing our office location. (Note that the rotating artillery is not a normal fixture.)

Moral of the story: don’t jeopardize the lives of your emergent artificial agents—hire computer scientists for your technical investigations.

Software IP Investigations in the Movies: Free Guy (2021)

Daniel W. Steinbrook

IP Litigation

May 12, 2022