Recently, gamers remembered Hotline Miami again. Users noticed that the game publisher Devolver Digital sued artist Erick Chatel (known online as Erick Scarecro).
The reason is that Erick continued to release T-shirts, toys, and badges based on Hotline Miami after the expiration of the concluded license agreement.
In the filed lawsuit, Devolver Digital stated that the previously concluded agreement only gave Erick the right to create and sell merchandise for the Hotline Miami franchise (figures, badges, and other agreed-upon products). The company emphasizes that the agreement was terminated in 2019, and since then, the artist had no license to produce new products, but he was allowed to sell the remaining already manufactured products.
Devolver Digital claims that Erick continued to produce new products and "registered copyrights for unauthorized derivative works based on the game Hotline Miami, claiming to the copyright office that he owned the intellectual property rights."
Erick also promoted the Hotline Miami spin-off "Dusted" and announced a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds, which was never launched.
According to Devolver Digital's lawyers, Erick's promoted Hotline Miami spin-off and his Kickstarter campaign are "obvious fraud":
It is designed to mislead consumers into falsely believing that this "spin-off" is being created in collaboration with Devolver, or is otherwise associated with, sponsored, supported, or endorsed by it – all for the purpose of funding the defendants' gross infringement.
Devolver Digital representatives stated that Erick's actions harm the company and mislead customers. There is no information yet on the progress of this case.