Legal row over zombie video game

In Dead Rising the gamer takes the role of photojournalist Frank West

Japanese video game giant Capcom faces US legal action over one of its titles' alleged similarities to a zombie film.

The MKR Group contends the Dead Rising game infringes the copyright of George A Romero's 1978 film Dawn of the Dead, to which it holds the rights.

Both Romero's film, remade in 2004, and the game involve battles with zombies inside a sprawling shopping mall.

Released in August 2006 on Xbox 360, Dead Rising sold more than a million units in its first five months on sale.

In a complaint filed at the US District Court in New York on Monday, MKR argues that both Dawn of the Dead and Dead Rising provide "thoughtful social commentary on the 'mall culture' zeitgeist" as well as "a sizeable portion of sensationalistic violence".

MKR's president and chief shareholder is Richard Rubinstein, producer of Dawn of the Dead and its remake.

Its complaint follows a previous one filed by Capcom earlier this month, in which it argued that "humans battling zombies in a shopping mall" was a "wholly unprotectible idea".

Romero's latest zombie film, Diary of the Dead, is released in the UK on 7 March.