While Duke Nukem hasn't had a great life over the past decade in the realm of gaming, he's become quite acquainted with the legal system, as another lawsuit that he was involved in has come to a resolution. This Duke Nukem lawsuit was about music, and was originally brought by Duke Nukem composer Bobby Prince, last year against Gearbox Software and Valve, and has now been settled, as first reported by Gamesindustry.
This new Duke Nukem settlement means that Bobby Prince's music will stay in Duke Nukem 3D: World Tour, as the involved parties were able to reach an equitable settlement going forward.
“There’s been a lot of interest about my lawsuit and Gearbox. I’m glad to announce today that the matter with Gearbox is resolved. After productive discussions, we have reached an agreement that allows my music and sound effects to remain in Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour. I appreciate Randy Pitchford and Gearbox for their collaboration, partnership, and understanding. I’m thankful that we can put this behind us and move forward." -- Bobby Prince
The case came about because when 3D Realms sold the rights to Duke Nukem to Gearbox, they had failed to sure that the license to Prince's music was also included. Thus, while the original case was against Gearbox and Valve, Gearbox would later bring 3D Realms and Apogee into the case as third party defendants, and this settlement involved everyone's litigation getting resolved.
We don't know what the settlement involved in terms of an ongoing license, other than that Prince's music is staying and he is satisfied with the resolution per his statement. Additionally, the third party suit brought by Gearbox against 3D Realm and Apogee was dropped, with each party agreeing to pay their own legal costs to help solve the matter. In their statement 3D Realms said that their counsel reviewed the sale of the Duke Nukem catalog and that a license to Bobby Prince's music had been missed in the original sale, as Gearbox had said.
Thus ends another tale of Duke Law, as the Duke has entered into another courtroom. One wonders at this point, how long it is until we get some sort of weird Duke Nukem legal parody given that this is far from the first legal issue Duke has had.
