Is Sony stealing user ideas for LittleBigPlanet?

The main tenets behind the PS3 exclusive LittleBigPlanet are creativity and community. Sony and Media Molecule see the game as a sort of open platform where users can come and let their imaginations run wild, then share their masterpieces with the world. To further encourage this spirit of getting everyone in on the action, Sony sponsored a costume contest before the game was released, with the winners seeing their creations digitized and released for the game itself as free DLC. All is not well in the LittleBigPlanet garden though, as now Sony is facing charges of theft from members of the community.

At issue is the recently released Shark suit, which users are claiming looks an awful lot like one of the non-winning contest entries, and that Sony is now simply culling the supplied entrants for ideas they can rip off without any form of compensation or acknowledgement. The costume at issue is detailed here, and there seem to be some distinct similarities if I do say so myself.

Sony, of course, denies any wrongdoing and claims the whole thing is simply coincidence. Their stance is that due to the sheer volume of entries received in the costume contest, some would surely overlap with what the company had already been planning to do on their own. Furthermore, Mr. PR Man assures the community that if Sony were to ever "draw inspiration" from one of the user-submitted costumes then the person responsible would receive the proper recognition.

So who do you believe here? We’re honestly pretty torn about this one, as both sides have valid arguments. Still, we’re going to side with the little guy this time, because Sony doesn’t really need our pity.

TGR Verdict: Rumor Somewhat Likely