UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEVADA
DEFENDANT REDSTONE GAMING CORP.'S RESPONSES AND OBJECTIONS TO PLAINTIFF LUMINOS INTERACTIVE LLC'S FIRST SET OF INTERROGATORIES (NOS. 1–25) AND FIRST SET OF REQUESTS FOR PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS (NOS. 1–40)
Date Served: July 8, 2024
PRELIMINARY STATEMENT
Defendant Redstone Gaming Corp. ("Redstone" or "Defendant"), by and through its undersigned counsel of record, Calderwood & Harkness LLP and Thorngate & Associates, PC, hereby serves its Responses and Objections to Plaintiff Luminos Interactive LLC's ("Luminos" or "Plaintiff") First Set of Interrogatories (Nos. 1–25) and First Set of Requests for Production of Documents (Nos. 1–40), which were served on Defendant on June 14, 2024, pursuant to Rules 33 and 34 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
These responses are based on the information reasonably available to Redstone as of July 8, 2024. Redstone's investigation into the facts and circumstances underlying this matter, including its review and analysis of potentially responsive documents, is ongoing. Discovery in this action is continuing, and Redstone has not yet had a full and complete opportunity to review and analyze all documents and information that may be relevant to the matters raised in Plaintiff's discovery requests.
Redstone reserves the right to supplement, amend, or correct these responses as additional information becomes available through continuing investigation, discovery, review, and analysis, in accordance with its obligations under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(e). Nothing in these responses should be construed as a waiver of Redstone's right to rely upon subsequently discovered information or evidence. Redstone further reserves the right to assert additional objections, privileges, or defenses as may become apparent during the course of this litigation.
These responses are made without waiving, and subject to, any and all objections, privileges, and defenses available to Redstone, including but not limited to objections as to competency, relevance, materiality, and admissibility of any information or documents provided herein. By providing responses to any interrogatory or request for production, Redstone does not concede the relevance, materiality, or admissibility of any information disclosed or any document produced, nor does Redstone concede that any such information or document constitutes evidence supporting any claim or defense asserted in this action.
Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, Redstone's responses are made subject to and without waiver of: (a) all objections as to competency, relevance, materiality, and admissibility of any information or document provided herein at trial or in any other proceeding; (b) the attorney-client privilege; (c) the work-product doctrine, including both fact and opinion work product; and (d) any other applicable privilege, protection, or immunity from discovery, including but not limited to the common-interest privilege, the joint-defense privilege, the trade-secret privilege, and any privilege or protection arising under applicable federal or state law.
The parties in this action are operating under the confidentiality provisions set forth in the parties' Joint Rule 26(f) discovery Plan submitted to the Court on May 6, 2024, and the Court's Case Management Order entered May 13, 2024 (ECF No. 22). To the extent the Court enters a formal Protective Order, Redstone reserves the right to designate certain documents and information produced herein as "Confidential" or "Highly Confidential — Attorneys' Eyes Only" in accordance with the terms thereof.
GENERAL OBJECTIONS
Redstone asserts the following General Objections, which apply to each and every Interrogatory and Request for Production of Documents propounded by Plaintiff. These General Objections are incorporated by reference into each specific response set forth below, and Redstone's failure to restate any General Objection in a specific response shall not constitute a waiver of that objection.
1. Overbreadth and Undue Burden. Redstone objects to any interrogatory or request for production that is overbroad in scope, unduly burdensome, or not proportional to the needs of this case, as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(1), considering the importance of the issues at stake, the amount in controversy, the parties' relative access to relevant information, the parties' resources, the importance of the discovery in resolving the issues, and whether the burden or expense of the proposed discovery outweighs its likely benefit. Redstone particularly objects to any discovery request that seeks information regarding all Redstone game titles, products, or operations beyond Ironclad Dominion, which is the only product at issue in this litigation. Requests seeking enterprise-wide information concerning a publicly traded company with approximately 4,200 employees, multiple game titles, and $1.87 billion in annual revenue impose a burden grossly disproportionate to the needs of a dispute concerning 37 specific visual assets in a single game.
2. Relevance. Redstone objects to any interrogatory or request for production that seeks information or documents not relevant to any party's claim or defense and not proportional to the needs of the case under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(1). This objection applies with particular force to requests that seek information about Redstone's business operations, products, personnel, or financial performance unrelated to the specific copyright infringement claims asserted in the Complaint.
3. Vagueness and Ambiguity. Redstone objects to any interrogatory or request for production that is vague, ambiguous, unintelligible, or susceptible to multiple reasonable interpretations, to the extent that such vagueness or ambiguity renders the request incapable of a meaningful response. Where Redstone has responded to a vague or ambiguous request, it has done so based on its own reasonable interpretation of the request, which interpretation shall not be deemed an admission or concession that any alternative interpretation is correct or that the request as drafted is proper.
4. Attorney-Client Privilege and Work-Product Protection. Redstone objects to any interrogatory or request for production to the extent it calls for information or documents protected by the attorney-client privilege, the work-product doctrine (including both fact work product and opinion work product), or any other applicable privilege or immunity from disclosure. A privilege log has been prepared and will be produced concurrently herewith, identifying documents and communications withheld or redacted on the basis of attorney-client privilege, work-product protection, or other applicable privileges, in accordance with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5).
5. Trade Secret and Proprietary Information. Redstone objects to any interrogatory or request for production to the extent it seeks disclosure of trade secrets, proprietary business information, proprietary source code, confidential technical processes, or other confidential commercial information that is not relevant to the claims or defenses at issue in this action, or the disclosure of which would cause competitive harm to Redstone disproportionate to any probative value such information might have. To the extent any responsive information constitutes trade secret or proprietary information, Redstone reserves the right to seek entry of a Protective Order or to designate such information under the highest available confidentiality tier.
6. Temporal Scope. Redstone objects to any interrogatory or request for production that is not reasonably limited in temporal scope, or that seeks information or documents outside the time period relevant to the development and release of Ironclad Dominion (approximately Q1 2020 through November 14, 2022) and the period of alleged infringement as set forth in the Complaint. Requests extending beyond these temporal boundaries are overbroad and not proportional to the needs of this case unless a specific showing of relevance is made.
7. "All" and "Each" Formulations. Redstone objects to any interrogatory or request for production that uses the terms "all," "each," "every," "any and all," or similar exhaustive formulations to the extent such formulations impose an unreasonable burden of production or investigation, or require Redstone to guarantee that no responsive information or document has been omitted despite the exercise of due diligence. To the extent Redstone responds to such requests, it does so based on a reasonable and diligent search of sources reasonably likely to contain responsive information, and Redstone does not represent that its responses are exhaustive of every potentially responsive item in existence.
8. Reservation Regarding Privilege Log. Redstone states that a privilege log is being produced concurrently with these responses, identifying documents and communications withheld or redacted on the basis of attorney-client privilege and/or work-product protection. The privilege log identifies the nature of each withheld or redacted document, the date, the author, the recipient(s), and the basis for the privilege or protection asserted, in accordance with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(5)(A). Redstone reserves the right to supplement the privilege log as additional privileged documents are identified during the course of continuing discovery.
9. Subject to These General Objections. Each specific response set forth below incorporates and is subject to these General Objections in their entirety. The assertion of a specific objection in any particular response shall not be construed as a waiver of any General Objection not specifically restated therein.
DEFINITIONS AND INTERPRETIVE NOTES
Redstone has reviewed the definitions and instructions set forth in Plaintiff's First Set of Interrogatories and First Set of Requests for Production of Documents. To the extent Plaintiff's definitions are consistent with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and applicable case law, Redstone accepts those definitions for the limited purpose of providing these responses. To the extent Plaintiff's definitions are broader than or inconsistent with the Federal Rules, Redstone objects to such definitions and interprets the terms as set forth below.
For purposes of these responses, the following terms shall have the meanings set forth below:
• "Document" has the meaning ascribed to it under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34(a), including writings, drawings, graphs, charts, photographs, sound recordings, images, and other data or data compilations stored in any medium from which information can be obtained, translated if necessary into a reasonably usable form.
• "Communication" includes all oral, written, and electronic communications, whether formal or informal, including but not limited to letters, emails, instant messages, text messages, Meridian Solutions or Teams messages, memoranda, meeting notes, presentations, and telephone calls.
• "You," "Your," or "Defendant" refers to Redstone Gaming Corp., its officers, directors, employees, agents, representatives, subsidiaries, affiliates, predecessors, and successors, unless context otherwise requires.
• "Ironclad Dominion" or "the Game" refers to the AAA multiplayer tactical RPG game developed and published by Redstone Gaming Corp. and released on PC and consoles on November 14, 2022.
• "Shardfall Chronicles" refers to the indie single-player action-RPG game developed and published by Luminos Interactive LLC and released on March 22, 2021.
• "Challenged Assets" refers to the 37 specific visual assets identified in Paragraphs 42 through 78 of Plaintiff's Complaint (ECF No. 1), comprising: (a) 12 character armor designs; (b) 9 environmental crystal textures; (c) 8 UI icon sets; and (d) 8 background matte paintings.
PART I: RESPONSES AND OBJECTIONS TO PLAINTIFF'S FIRST SET OF INTERROGATORIES (NOS. 1–25)
INTERROGATORY NO. 1:
Identify all persons involved in the creation, design, or development of the character armor designs in Ironclad Dominion, including each person's name, job title, role in the creation process, and dates of involvement.
OBJECTIONS:
Redstone objects to this Interrogatory to the extent it seeks identification of "all persons" involved in the creation of character armor designs. Ironclad Dominion is a AAA game title with a multi-year development cycle spanning from Q1 2020 through November 2022, during which hundreds of employees contributed to various aspects of the game, including character art. The demand for identification of every individual who participated in any aspect of character armor design—including ancillary roles such as quality assurance testing, localization, and administrative support—is overbroad and unduly burdensome and imposes obligations disproportionate to the needs of this case. Redstone further objects to the extent this Interrogatory seeks information that would require Redstone to compile an exhaustive personnel history from personnel records, timekeeping systems, and project-management databases that were not maintained for the purpose of tracking individual contributions to specific asset categories.
RESPONSE:
Subject to and without waiving the foregoing objections, Redstone responds as follows:
The key creative personnel principally responsible for the creation, design, and development of the character armor designs in Ironclad Dominion include the following individuals:
(a) Jordan Kessler, Vice President of Creative Development, Redstone Gaming Corp. Mr. Kessler served as the senior executive overseeing the entire Ironclad Dominion development program from its inception in Q1 2020 through release on November 14, 2022. In this capacity, Mr. Kessler reviewed and approved all major creative decisions, including the visual aesthetic direction for character armor designs.
(b) Seo-Yeon Park, Lead Character Artist, Redstone Gaming Corp. Ms. Park served as the Lead Character Artist for Ironclad Dominion and was directly responsible for the design, development, and execution of character models, including all character armor designs. Ms. Park managed a team of character artists who reported to her and worked under her creative direction. Ms. Park's involvement with character armor design commenced in approximately March 2020 and continued through the final asset-lock stage in approximately September 2022.
(c) Members of the character art team reporting directly to Ms. Park, including but not limited to character artists, texture artists, and 3D modelers who contributed to the iterative development of character armor assets under Ms. Park's supervision.
Development of character assets for Ironclad Dominion commenced in Q1 2020. The first commit to the "ironclad-main" Git repository is dated February 12, 2020. Concept art and design briefs for character armor were among the earliest creative assets developed for the project, and initial concept sketches for character armor predate the release of Shardfall Chronicles on March 22, 2021 by approximately one year.
Redstone further directs Plaintiff to Redstone's Initial Disclosures served on May 20, 2024, which identify individuals with knowledge of relevant facts, including individuals involved in the creation of the Challenged Assets.
INTERROGATORY NO. 2:
Identify all persons involved in the creation of environmental textures in Ironclad Dominion, including crystalline and cave textures, and state the date on which each such texture was first created and the tools or software used in their creation.
OBJECTIONS:
Redstone objects to this Interrogatory as overbroad to the extent it seeks the identification of every individual who created, touched, edited, reviewed, or otherwise contributed to any environmental texture across the entirety of Ironclad Dominion. The game contains thousands of individual environmental textures spanning dozens of in-game biomes and environments. Identification of every person who contributed to every environmental texture, along with creation dates and tools for each, would impose an extraordinary burden far disproportionate to any legitimate discovery need. Redstone further objects to the compound nature of this Interrogatory, which effectively seeks multiple discrete categories of information (identity, dates, and tools) for each of potentially thousands of textures.
RESPONSE:
Subject to and without waiving the foregoing objections, Redstone responds as follows:
Environmental textures for Ironclad Dominion, including crystalline and cave environment textures, were developed by Redstone's environment art team operating under the general creative oversight of Jordan Kessler, Vice President of Creative Development. The environment art team was responsible for all world-building assets, including terrain textures, architectural textures, environmental props, and atmospheric effects.
Environmental textures were developed as an integral part of Ironclad Dominion's mechanized-steampunk world-building aesthetic. The creative direction for the game's environments—including the use of crystalline formations and subterranean cave settings—was established during the pre-production and concept art phases, which commenced in approximately Q1-Q2 2020. Concept art for crystalline and cave environments was created beginning in approximately June 2020, which predates the release of Shardfall Chronicles on March 22, 2021 by approximately nine months.
The environment art team used industry-standard tools and software for environmental texture creation, including Glenrock Services Inc. (formerly Substance Designer and Substance Painter), Dunmore Technologies, Ashbury Health IT, and the proprietary Redstone Engine toolset.
Redstone directs Plaintiff to documents produced at Bates Nos. RGC-003201 through RGC-004850 (concept art for character and environment design), Bates Nos. RGC-004851 through RGC-006500 (environment concept art and texture development records), and Bates Nos. RGC-000001 through RGC-001250 (Git commit metadata verifying the creation dates and provenance of environmental assets).
INTERROGATORY NO. 3:
Identify all persons involved in the creation of UI elements and icon sets in Ironclad Dominion, including but not limited to radial menu interfaces and inventory icons, and describe the design process for each.
OBJECTIONS:
Redstone objects to this Interrogatory as overbroad to the extent it seeks identification of "all persons" involved in the creation of every UI element and icon set in Ironclad Dominion, rather than limiting the inquiry to the 8 UI icon sets specifically identified among the Challenged Assets. Ironclad Dominion contains extensive and multifaceted user-interface systems, and the development of those systems involved numerous individuals over the course of the game's multi-year development. Redstone further objects to the instruction to "describe the design process for each" UI element as vague, overbroad, and imposing a burden disproportionate to the needs of this case.
RESPONSE:
Subject to and without waiving the foregoing objections, Redstone responds as follows:
The UI elements and icon sets in Ironclad Dominion, including the contextual radial HUD (heads-up display) and inventory icons, were created by Redstone's UI/UX design team as part of the game's interactive interface systems. The UI/UX team operated under the general creative direction of Jordan Kessler, Vice President of Creative Development.
The contextual radial HUD in Ironclad Dominion was designed independently as a gameplay mechanic specifically optimized for multiplayer tactical RPG interfaces, where rapid, contextual access to abilities, inventory, and communication tools is a critical gameplay requirement. Radial menu interfaces are a common, widely adopted, and well-established UI convention in the RPG genre and in video games generally. Such interfaces have been used in numerous prior titles across the industry, predating both Ironclad Dominion and Shardfall Chronicles, and are not original to Plaintiff or any single developer.
The design process for the UI/UX elements generally followed an iterative workflow involving: (1) user-experience research and gameplay-flow analysis; (2) wireframing and low-fidelity prototyping; (3) high-fidelity visual design and icon creation; (4) integration with the game engine; and (5) usability testing and iterative refinement.
Redstone directs Plaintiff to documents produced at Bates Nos. RGC-008100 through RGC-009340, which contain design specifications, wireframes, and final art for the UI elements at issue.
INTERROGATORY NO. 4:
Describe the complete development timeline for Ironclad Dominion, from initial concept through release, including all major milestones, phase transitions, and decision points.
OBJECTIONS:
Redstone does not object to this Interrogatory as to its general scope, as the development timeline of Ironclad Dominion is directly relevant to Redstone's defense of independent creation. However, Redstone objects to the extent this Interrogatory calls for disclosure of communications or information protected by the attorney-client privilege or the work-product doctrine, including any analysis of the development timeline prepared at the direction of counsel in anticipation of this litigation.
RESPONSE:
Subject to and without waiving the foregoing objections, Redstone responds as follows:
The development of Ironclad Dominion followed the timeline set forth below:
(a) Concept and Pre-Production (approximately January 2020 – September 2020): Development of Ironclad Dominion commenced in approximately Q1 2020 (January 2020). The creative concept for a multiplayer tactical RPG set in a mechanized-steampunk fantasy world was developed during this phase. The first commit in the "ironclad-main" Git repository is dated February 12, 2020. Pre-production activities included concept art creation, narrative development, world-building design, technical prototyping, and the establishment of the game's visual aesthetic direction. Concept art and design briefs for character armor, environmental settings (including crystalline and cave environments), and UI systems were created during this phase.
(b) Full Production (approximately Q4 2020 – Q2 2022): Full production commenced in approximately October 2020 following the completion of a vertical slice milestone. During this phase, the game's visual assets, gameplay systems, level design, audio, and narrative content were developed in earnest. The character art, environmental textures, UI icon sets, and matte paintings that are among the Challenged Assets were created primarily during this phase, with certain concept work having originated during pre-production.
(c) Alpha Testing (approximately June 2022): The game entered its alpha testing phase in approximately June 2022. At this milestone, all core gameplay systems were functional, and the majority of visual assets had reached a near-final state.
(d) Beta Testing (approximately August 2022): The game entered its beta testing phase in approximately August 2022, during which external testing was conducted, bug fixes were implemented, and final polish was applied to visual and gameplay assets.
(e) Release (November 14, 2022): Ironclad Dominion was released on PC (via Steam and the Epic Games Store), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S on November 14, 2022.
The game generated approximately $312 million in revenue during its first 12 months of release (November 2022 through November 2023), a figure that is publicly reported in Redstone's SEC filings.
INTERROGATORY NO. 5:
State the total revenue generated by Ironclad Dominion from its release date to the present, broken down by fiscal quarter and by platform (PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and any other platforms).
OBJECTIONS:
Redstone objects to this Interrogatory to the extent it seeks competitively sensitive, proprietary financial information that exceeds what is relevant and proportional to the claims at issue in this action. Quarterly and platform-level revenue breakdowns constitute highly confidential proprietary business information, the disclosure of which could cause competitive harm to Redstone. Redstone further objects to the temporal scope of this Interrogatory to the extent it seeks revenue data extending beyond the first year of release (November 2022 through November 2023), which is the relevant damages period identified in Paragraph 96 of Plaintiff's Complaint. Revenue data beyond this period has not been shown to be relevant to Plaintiff's claimed damages.
RESPONSE:
Subject to and without waiving the foregoing objections, Redstone responds as follows:
Ironclad Dominion generated approximately $312 million in aggregate revenue during its first 12 months following its release on November 14, 2022. This figure encompasses revenue from all platforms and all sources, including initial retail sales, digital distribution, and downloadable content.
More granular revenue breakdowns, including quarterly and platform-specific data, are available in Redstone's publicly filed financial reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Redstone's Annual Report on Form 10-K for fiscal year 2023 and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, filed under the Nasdaq ticker symbol RDST. Redstone refers Plaintiff to those publicly available filings.
To the extent additional revenue breakdowns beyond what is publicly available are determined to be relevant and proportional to the needs of this case, Redstone will produce such data under an appropriate confidentiality designation, subject to the entry of a Protective Order or pursuant to the confidentiality provisions of the parties' Rule 26(f) discovery Plan.
INTERROGATORY NO. 6:
State the total revenue generated by all Redstone game titles from January 1, 2020 to the present, broken down by title and fiscal year.
OBJECTIONS:
Redstone objects to this Interrogatory as overbroad, unduly burdensome, and not relevant or proportional to the needs of this case under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(1). This litigation concerns the alleged copyright infringement of 37 specific visual assets in Ironclad Dominion only. Revenue generated by Redstone's other game titles—including but not limited to Voidrunner, Ember Siege, and other titles in Redstone's portfolio—has no bearing on any claim or defense in this action. The revenue generated by unrelated titles does not bear on the question of whether Redstone copied Plaintiff's assets, the scope of any alleged damages, or any affirmative defense. Redstone's total fiscal year 2023 revenue of approximately $1.87 billion is publicly available in its Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
RESPONSE:
Subject to and without waiving the foregoing objections, Redstone responds as follows:
Redstone's total reported revenue for fiscal year 2023 was approximately $1.87 billion, as reported in its publicly filed Annual Report on Form 10-K (Nasdaq: RDST). Revenue attributable to specific game titles other than Ironclad Dominion is not relevant to Plaintiff's claims and will not be produced absent a court order demonstrating the relevance and proportionality of such information.
INTERROGATORY NO. 7:
Describe in detail the art pipeline and asset-creation workflow used by Redstone for Ironclad Dominion, including the software, tools, methodologies, and review processes employed at each stage of the pipeline.
OBJECTIONS:
Redstone objects to the phrase "in detail" as vague, as it does not define the level of specificity required and could be interpreted to require disclosure of every technical step, proprietary algorithm, and internal process used in Redstone's art pipeline. Redstone further objects to this Interrogatory to the extent it calls for the disclosure of trade secrets and proprietary technical information regarding Redstone's internal development processes, pipeline tools, and proprietary engine technology, which are competitively sensitive and not relevant to the copyright infringement claims at issue.
RESPONSE:
Subject to and without waiving the foregoing objections, Redstone responds as follows:
Redstone's art pipeline for Ironclad Dominion generally followed industry-standard practices for AAA game development. The pipeline consisted of the following general stages:
(1) Concept Art and Design Briefs: Creative leads developed written design briefs and visual reference documents establishing the aesthetic direction, mood, and stylistic parameters for each asset category. These briefs were reviewed and approved by Jordan Kessler, VP of Creative Development.
(2) 2D Sketches and Mood Boards: Artists created preliminary 2D sketches, thumbnail variations, and mood boards exploring visual concepts consistent with the approved design briefs. Multiple iterations were produced and reviewed before concepts advanced to the next stage.
(3) 3D Modeling and Texturing: Approved 2D concepts were translated into 3D models using industry-standard modeling and texturing software, including Ashbury Health IT, Severin Software, Glenrock Services Inc. (formerly Substance Designer and Substance Painter), and Dunmore Technologies.
(4) Rigging and Animation: Character models were rigged and animated to enable in-game movement and interaction. Environmental assets were prepared for integration with lighting, particle, and physics systems.
(5) Integration into the Game Engine: Finalized 3D models, textures, and animations were imported into the proprietary Redstone Engine for integration with the game's runtime systems, including rendering, lighting, and level-design tools.
(6) Iterative Review by Creative Leadership: At each stage of the pipeline, assets were subject to review and approval by creative leads, including Ms. Park (for character assets) and Mr. Kessler (for overall creative direction). Feedback loops ensured consistency with the approved visual style and design briefs.
All asset iterations were tracked in the "ironclad-main" Git repository, which contains 14,208 commits spanning from February 12, 2020 through approximately October 2022. The version-control system maintained a complete, timestamped history of every change to every asset file, providing a comprehensive and verifiable record of the provenance and development history of all visual assets, including the Challenged Assets.
Version-control logs verifying the provenance and timestamps of assets in the "ironclad-main" repository have been produced at Bates Nos. RGC-000001 through RGC-001250.
INTERROGATORY NO. 8:
Identify each version-control system used during the development of Ironclad Dominion and the custodian of each repository, and state the total number of commits, the date range of commits, and the location where the repository is stored.
OBJECTIONS:
Redstone does not object to this Interrogatory.
RESPONSE:
The primary version-control system used during the development of Ironclad Dominion was Git. The main repository was named "ironclad-main." The repository was maintained on Redstone's internal servers at its Las Vegas, Nevada headquarters at 4100 Obsidian Tower Boulevard, Suite 2200, Las Vegas, NV 89109.
Jordan Kessler, Vice President of Creative Development, had ultimate creative and administrative oversight of the repository's contents and access permissions. Technical administration of the Git infrastructure—including server maintenance, backup procedures, and access-control management—was handled by Redstone's DevOps team.
The "ironclad-main" repository contains a total of 14,208 commits. The first commit is dated February 12, 2020, and the last commit relevant to the initial release of the game was made in approximately October 2022. The repository remains in active use for post-release updates and downloadable content development.
Git commit metadata (including timestamps, author identifiers, and commit messages) has been produced at Bates Nos. RGC-000001 through RGC-001250.
INTERROGATORY NO. 9:
State whether any employee, contractor, or agent of Redstone had access to, played, reviewed, purchased, downloaded, or was otherwise exposed to Shardfall Chronicles at any time prior to or during the development of Ironclad Dominion, and if so, identify each such person and describe the nature and circumstances of such access or exposure.
OBJECTIONS:
Redstone objects to this Interrogatory as calling for speculation and as overbroad to the extent it requires Redstone to account for the private, personal activities of approximately 4,200 employees, as well as an indeterminate number of contractors and agents, across a period of more than four years. Redstone cannot reasonably be expected to determine or verify whether any of its thousands of employees or contractors, in their personal capacity and on their own time, may have independently accessed, purchased, downloaded, played, or otherwise encountered Shardfall Chronicles. The scope of this Interrogatory would effectively require Redstone to conduct an investigation into the personal gaming habits and media consumption of its entire workforce, which is neither reasonable nor proportional to the needs of this case.
RESPONSE:
Subject to and without waiving the foregoing objections, Redstone responds as follows:
Based on a reasonable investigation, including inquiries of the key creative personnel responsible for the Ironclad Dominion development, Redstone is not aware of any member of the Ironclad Dominion creative team who accessed, played, reviewed, purchased, downloaded, or was otherwise exposed to Shardfall Chronicles at any time prior to or during the development of Ironclad Dominion.
Specifically, Jordan Kessler (VP of Creative Development) and Seo-Yeon Park (Lead Character Artist) have each confirmed that they were not aware of Shardfall Chronicles or Luminos Interactive LLC until the filing of Plaintiff's Complaint on March 18, 2024. Redstone's investigation has not revealed any evidence to the contrary.
INTERROGATORY NO. 10:
For each of the 37 Challenged Assets identified in Paragraphs 42 through 78 of the Complaint, describe in detail the creation process for each asset, identify the creator(s) of each asset, and state the date each asset was first created, including the date of the first digital file or sketch reflecting the asset.
OBJECTIONS:
Redstone objects to this Interrogatory as compound and unduly burdensome to the extent it requires Redstone to prepare a separate, detailed narrative for each of the 37 individual Challenged Assets. The preparation of 37 individual asset-creation narratives would impose an extraordinary burden and effectively constitute the preparation of an expert report, which is premature and inappropriate at this stage of discovery. Redstone further objects to the demand that it identify the "first digital file or sketch" for each asset, as such specificity may require review of thousands of files and internal project-management records.
Redstone responds to this Interrogatory by organizing the Challenged Assets into the four categories identified in the Complaint, which is the most reasonable and efficient means of providing the requested information.
RESPONSE:
Subject to and without waiving the foregoing objections, Redstone responds as follows:
(a) 12 Character Armor Designs. The 12 character armor designs identified in the Complaint were created by Seo-Yeon Park, Lead Character Artist, and members of the character art team working under her direct supervision. The creation of these character armor designs commenced during the pre-production phase of Ironclad Dominion development, with initial concept sketches created between approximately March 2020 and September 2021. Significantly, the initial concept art for the character armor designs predates the release of Shardfall Chronicles on March 22, 2021. The armor designs reflect a mechanized-steampunk aesthetic consistent with the overall creative direction for Ironclad Dominion, drawing on historical armor silhouettes, industrial-era machinery, and established fantasy-RPG genre conventions.
(b) 9 Environmental Crystal Textures. The 9 environmental crystal textures identified in the Complaint were developed by Redstone's environment art team beginning in approximately June 2020. Concept art and design briefs for crystalline cave environments were created during the pre-production phase, predating the release of Shardfall Chronicles by approximately nine months. The crystal textures were created using procedural generation techniques within Glenrock Services Inc. (Substance Designer) and were iteratively refined through the production phase.
(c) 8 UI Icon Sets. The 8 UI icon sets identified in the Complaint were created by Redstone's UI/UX design team beginning in approximately Q1 2021. The icon sets were developed as part of the contextual radial HUD system, which was designed as a gameplay mechanic optimized for multiplayer tactical RPG interfaces. Radial menu systems and the types of iconography used in RPG interfaces are well-established genre conventions.
(d) 8 Background Matte Paintings. The 8 background matte paintings identified in the Complaint were created between approximately Q3 2020 and Q1 2022 by Redstone's environment art team. These matte paintings depict large-scale environmental vistas consistent with the mechanized-steampunk fantasy setting of Ironclad Dominion.
Specific creation dates for individual assets within each category are reflected in the Git commit logs produced at Bates Nos. RGC-000001 through RGC-001250 and in the concept art archives produced at Bates Nos. RGC-003201 through RGC-006500. The commit logs contain timestamped entries establishing the date on which each asset was first committed to the repository, providing a verifiable chain of provenance for each Challenged Asset.
INTERROGATORY NO. 11:
Identify all expert witnesses Redstone intends to call at trial, and for each expert, state the expert's name, qualifications, areas of expertise, and the subject matter of the expert's expected testimony.
OBJECTIONS:
Redstone objects to this Interrogatory to the extent it is premature and seeks final trial witness designations prior to the deadline for expert disclosures under the Court's Scheduling Order. Redstone responds based on experts currently retained as of the date of these responses and reserves the right to supplement this response in accordance with the Court's Scheduling Order and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(2).
RESPONSE:
Subject to and without waiving the foregoing objections, Redstone responds as follows:
As of the date of these responses, Redstone has retained the following experts:
(a) Dr. Ingrid Lautner. Dr. Lautner is a Professor of Digital Media and Game Design at Pacific Western University. She holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from MIT and has over 20 years of experience in the fields of digital media, computer graphics, game design, and interactive entertainment. Dr. Lautner has been retained as an expert witness in the areas of visual asset comparison, procedural generation methodologies, and transformative design analysis. Dr. Lautner is expected to testify regarding the visual and technical differences between the Challenged Assets in Ironclad Dominion and the corresponding assets in Shardfall Chronicles, the use of common genre conventions (scènes à faire) in fantasy-RPG game design, and the independent creative processes reflected in Redstone's development records.
(b) Evergreen Valuation Group LLC (Dr. Sandra Chu, Lead Analyst). Evergreen Valuation Group LLC is an economic and financial consulting firm. Dr. Sandra Chu, the firm's lead analyst, holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago and has served as a damages expert in over 50 intellectual property litigation matters. Dr. Chu has been retained to provide expert testimony on damages and market impact, including rebuttal of Plaintiff's damages theories and analysis of the market segmentation between Ironclad Dominion (AAA multiplayer tactical RPG) and Shardfall Chronicles (single-player indie action-RPG).
(c) Brindoval Forensic Consulting LLC (Nathan Rourke, Lead Consultant). Brindoval Forensic Consulting LLC is a digital forensics and electronic discovery consulting firm. Nathan Rourke, the firm's lead consultant, is a certified forensic examiner with over 15 years of experience in metadata analysis, digital evidence authentication, and version-control system forensics. Mr. Rourke has been engaged to perform metadata analysis and digital forensics on Redstone's "ironclad-main" Git repository, and may offer expert testimony regarding the integrity, authenticity, and reliability of Redstone's version-control logs and the provenance of the Challenged Assets as established by those logs.
Expert reports will be exchanged in accordance with the Court's Scheduling Order. Redstone reserves the right to designate additional expert witnesses as discovery progresses.
INTERROGATORY NO. 12:
Describe any and all licensing agreements, assignments, transfers, or other conveyances of rights in any of the visual assets in Ironclad Dominion, including the Challenged Assets, whether to or from any third party.
OBJECTIONS:
Redstone objects to this Interrogatory as overbroad to the extent it seeks information regarding "any and all" licensing agreements for every visual asset in Ironclad Dominion, rather than limiting the inquiry to the 37 Challenged Assets at issue.
RESPONSE:
Subject to and without waiving the foregoing objections, Redstone responds as follows:
All visual assets in Ironclad Dominion, including the 37 Challenged Assets, were created internally by Redstone employees as works made for hire within the scope of their employment, pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 101. Redstone is and at all relevant times has been the sole owner of all copyrights in the visual assets of Ironclad Dominion. No visual assets constituting or incorporated into any of the 37 Challenged Assets were licensed from, assigned by, or otherwise obtained from any third-party source.
Redstone did utilize certain commercially available middleware products and development tools (e.g., Glenrock Services Inc., Ashbury Health IT, Severin Software) under standard commercial licenses, which is an industry-standard practice. These tools are used to create original assets and do not contribute pre-made visual content to the Challenged Assets.
INTERROGATORY NO. 13:
Identify all third-party contractors, freelancers, outsourcing studios, or other non-employee individuals or entities involved in the creation of any visual assets for Ironclad Dominion, including character art, environmental textures, UI elements, and matte paintings.
OBJECTIONS:
Redstone objects to this Interrogatory as overbroad to the extent it seeks identification of every third-party contributor to any visual asset across the entirety of Ironclad Dominion, which is a AAA game containing thousands of visual assets far beyond the 37 Challenged Assets at issue. The identification of every contractor or freelancer who may have contributed to any visual asset in the game—whether or not related to the Challenged Assets—is disproportionate to the needs of this case.
RESPONSE:
Subject to and without waiving the foregoing objections, Redstone responds as follows:
No third-party contractors, freelancers, outsourcing studios, or other non-employee individuals or entities were involved in the creation of any of the 37 Challenged Assets identified in the Complaint. All 37 Challenged Assets were created exclusively by Redstone's in-house art teams, composed of Redstone employees working within the scope of their employment.
INTERROGATORY NO. 14:
Describe Redstone's creative inspiration and identify all reference materials, mood boards, style guides, and other sources of artistic inspiration used in developing the visual aesthetic of Ironclad Dominion, including but not limited to any reference to other video games.
OBJECTIONS:
Redstone objects to this Interrogatory as vague and overbroad. The term "creative inspiration" is inherently subjective and could encompass virtually any visual or cultural stimulus to which any member of the creative team was exposed over the course of their lives and careers. Redstone further objects to the extent this Interrogatory may call for information protected by the work-product doctrine, insofar as litigation counsel has been involved in compiling and analyzing reference material in anticipation of this litigation.
RESPONSE:
Subject to and without waiving the foregoing objections, Redstone responds as follows:
The visual aesthetic of Ironclad Dominion was inspired by a mechanized-steampunk fantasy genre, drawing on a broad range of publicly available sources, including but not limited to: historical armor designs from the medieval and Renaissance periods; industrial-era machinery and Victorian-era engineering aesthetics; established fantasy-RPG genre conventions that have developed over decades of game design, literature, and visual art; and fine-art movements including the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Art Nouveau, and Romantic landscape painting.
Crystalline cave textures, radial menu interfaces, medieval plate-armor silhouettes, luminous geological formations, and sweeping environmental vistas are common tropes and stock visual elements of the fantasy-RPG genre that have been employed across countless prior works. These elements constitute unprotectable scènes à faire that are dictated by the conventions of the genre and are not original to any single creator or work, including Shardfall Chronicles.
Shardfall Chronicles was not among the reference materials, inspirations, or sources consulted by any member of the Ironclad Dominion creative team during the development of the game.
INTERROGATORY NO. 15:
State whether Redstone or any of its employees, agents, or representatives conducted any internal review, comparison, or analysis of Ironclad Dominion assets relative to Shardfall Chronicles assets at any time, including before and after the filing of the Complaint, and if so, describe the nature, scope, and results of such review.
OBJECTIONS:
Redstone objects to this Interrogatory to the extent it calls for the disclosure of information protected by the attorney-client privilege and/or the work-product doctrine. To the extent any comparison or analysis of Ironclad Dominion assets relative to Shardfall Chronicles assets was conducted after the filing of the Complaint or in anticipation of litigation, such analysis was performed at the direction of and in consultation with Redstone's litigation counsel and constitutes protected work product. The request for the "results" of any such analysis directly implicates attorney mental impressions, conclusions, opinions, and legal theories, which are protected opinion work product entitled to near-absolute protection.
RESPONSE:
Subject to and without waiving the foregoing objections, Redstone responds as follows:
Prior to the filing of Plaintiff's Complaint on March 18, 2024, no internal review, comparison, or analysis of Ironclad Dominion assets relative to Shardfall Chronicles assets was conducted by Redstone or any of its employees, agents, or representatives. Redstone was not aware of Shardfall Chronicles or any alleged similarities until the filing of the Complaint.
Any post-litigation comparisons, reviews, or analyses are protected by the work-product doctrine and the attorney-client privilege and will not be disclosed. Redstone refers Plaintiff to the privilege log produced concurrently with these responses.
INTERROGATORY NO. 16:
Describe Redstone's corporate structure, including all subsidiaries, affiliates, divisions, and related entities involved in game development, and identify each entity's principal place of business and state of organization.
OBJECTIONS:
Redstone objects to this Interrogatory as overbroad and not relevant to the claims or defenses at issue. Redstone's corporate structure, beyond the specific division and entity responsible for the development and publication of Ironclad Dominion, is not relevant to the copyright infringement claims asserted in this action. A comprehensive description of every subsidiary, affiliate, and related entity of a publicly traded company with $1.87 billion in annual revenue is disproportionate to the needs of this case.
RESPONSE:
Subject to and without waiving the foregoing objections, Redstone responds as follows:
Redstone Gaming Corp. is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Delaware. Redstone's common stock is publicly traded on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker symbol RDST. Redstone's principal place of business and corporate headquarters is located at 4100 Obsidian Tower Boulevard, Suite 2200, Las Vegas, Nevada 89109. Redstone's registered agent in the State of Delaware is Capitol Registered Agents, Inc., 1209 Orange Street, Wilmington, Delaware 19801.
Ironclad Dominion was developed by Redstone's internal game development studio, which operates as a division of Redstone Gaming Corp. rather than as a separate legal entity. The game was published under the Redstone Gaming Corp. name.
Additional details regarding Redstone's corporate structure, subsidiaries, and affiliates are available in Redstone's publicly filed SEC documents, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for fiscal year 2023.
INTERROGATORY NO. 17:
State the total number of employees who worked on Ironclad Dominion during its development, and identify each such employee by name, job title, department, and role on the project.
OBJECTIONS:
Redstone objects to this Interrogatory as overbroad and unduly burdensome. Over the course of a multi-year AAA game development cycle spanning from Q1 2020 through November 2022, hundreds of employees contributed to Ironclad Dominion in capacities ranging from core creative roles (art, design, engineering, audio) to supporting functions (quality assurance, localization, marketing, legal, finance, human resources, IT, and facilities). Identifying every individual by name, title, department, and role would require a comprehensive review of personnel records, project-management databases, and timekeeping systems, and would impose a burden grossly disproportionate to the needs of this case, which concerns 37 specific visual assets.
RESPONSE:
Subject to and without waiving the foregoing objections, Redstone responds as follows:
The core creative leadership team for Ironclad Dominion included, among others:
• Jordan Kessler, Vice President of Creative Development
• Seo-Yeon Park, Lead Character Artist
• Additional department leads responsible for environment art, UI/UX design, animation, audio, narrative, and engineering
Redstone Gaming Corp. employs approximately 4,200 individuals in total across all titles, divisions, and functions. A substantial number of those employees contributed to Ironclad Dominion in some capacity during the game's development cycle.
Redstone identifies the key witnesses with knowledge of the facts relevant to this action, including individuals with knowledge of the creation and provenance of the Challenged Assets, in its Initial Disclosures served on May 20, 2024, pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(1).