By: Dale Dietrich
Activision countersues Spark Unlimited alleging fraud, breach of contract, trade secret misappropriation, trademark infringement, false designation of origin, and false advertising.
Sources: Gamespot | GameIndustry.biz | Next Generation
Related Posts:
Text of Stevens v. Sony Decision
In Stevens v. Sony, the Australian High Court ruled that modding Playstation consoles to circumvent region coding restrictions does not breach Australian copyright laws.
Sources: High Court Press Release | Freehills | GameIndustry.biz | Gamasutra | PS3Focus.com
Related Posts:
EA to pay $15.6 million in settlement of claim that workers were improperly classified as exempt from overtime.
Sources: gameindustry.biz | EuroGamer | GameSpot | Next-Gen.biz | 1Up.com | GamaSutra | neoseeker
Activision (Canulti):
Activision (Erimez):
EA (Lender Hasty): EA Programmers
EA (Tam Su):
EA (Kirschenbaum): EA animators, texture artists, and modelers
Sony:
Adrian Carmack, one of the original founders of id Software, has filed a lawsuit against the company, claiming he has been unfairly dismissed. Carmack claims he was fired as an employee and director after he refused to sell his shares back to the company in the context of possible corporate buyouts.
Sources: 1Up.com | GamaSutra | GameIndustry.biz | GameSpot
Every multimedia conglomerate and its sister company wants in on the digital distribution market, but is it finally ready for prime time?
Source: GameSpot | Earlier Related Story: GameSpot (Nov. 9, 2004)
Claiming her teen-age children were exposed to sexually explicit content in a popular video game, a concerned mother, Brenda Stanhouse, filed a class action lawsuit in St. Clair County Court against the promoters of “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (GTA).”
Sources: St. Clair Record | GamePolitics.com | Lunabean
New York Investigation:
LA Civil Suit:
FTC Investigation Related Posts:
Stanhouse Class Action Suit:
Cohen Class Action Suit:
Other Hot Coffee Related Posts:
New Jersey has become latest state to consider localized legislation against violent or sexually explicit video games, following the announcement of a proposed bill at proceedings being held at the New Jersey Statehouse.
Source: Gamasutra
Tom Hunter discusses the current and future pricing model for video games. Hunter argues why, in today’s modern age, there may be alternatives to charging consumers flat rates for specific content, citing the subscription-based cable industry as a model of particular merit to examine
Source: GamaSutra Feature
The Japanese prefecture of Saitama, which neighbors Tokyo, has become the second local government in Japan to ban the sale of Grand Theft Auto III to anyone aged under eighteen, according to Japanese online reports.
Source: Gamasutra
Related Posts:
Unlike the continuing battles over this issue in the U.S, a new law restricting sales of violent games to minors that went into force on June 1, 2005 is said to be causing no problems in the Canadian province of Manitoba.
Source: Game Politics
Related Posts:
Danish Glud & Marstrand is suing Microsoft for breach of a nondisclosure agreement, according to reports in the European game press. In 2002, G&M offered its services to produce metal game cases for Microsoft, and the two signed NDAs and exchanged information. Apparently, their services include the use of some form of confidential manufacturing or design technology that they disclosed to Microsoft after signing an NDA. Microsoft chose to use a competitive firm, Viva, to produce the cases. G&M claim they would never have provided the confidential information to Microsoft if it knew Viva was also bidding for the business.
Dale’s Comment: In order to successfully sue for breach of an NDA, you need to establish that something confidential was disclosed to third parties contrary to the NDA in question. Using mettle casings for video game packaging is hardly a new or secret idea. I gather the full facts of the case have not been disclosed because based on these reports there is no case here.
Source: Gamespot | GameDaily | The Inquirer | TVG | GameIndustry.biz
Attorney Tom Buscaglia takes a look at royalty audits, a provision in most publisher contracts that few developers choose to exercise, but, Buscaglia suggests, many should.
Source: GamaSutra Feature
Biren Amin, owner of Pandora’s Cube, is: (i) sentenced to five months in prison, (ii) sentenced to three years of supervised release, including 5 months of house arrest, (iii) fined $$247,237.05; and (iv) ordered to complete 80 hours of community service, for copyright infringement and DMCA violations.
Sources: Xbox Solution | Next Generation | CNet | ESA Press Release
Related Posts:
The Entertainment Software Association, the video game industry trade body, has filed suit against the new Michigan law that makes it illegal to sell or rent violent games to those under 17.
Sources: Gamasutra | Next Generation | ESA Press Release
GamePolitics Full Coverage Of Michigan’s Violent Video Game Law
Related Posts:
In the wake of the hot-coffee controversy, the Entertainment Software Rating Board is demanding that US publishers complete a comprehensive audit of all titles released over the past year in a bid to crack down on hidden in-game content.
Sources: Gamasutra | GameIndustry.biz | The Register | Ferrago
New York Investigation:
LA Civil Suit:
FTC Investigation Related Posts:
Stanhouse Class Action Suit:
Cohen Class Action Suit:
Other Hot Coffee Related Posts:
The Korean government is responding with programs to fight online-gaming addictions as the number of gamers seeking help climbs dramatically.
Source: Gamespot
MMORPG assets are being traded for real-world money. Are these virtual economies giving gamers their fair share?
Source: Gamespot
The world of online gaming is in the grip of a festering crimewave. As role-playing computer games such as EverQuest and Lineage have surged in popularity, a dark criminal underworld has emerged to capitalise on their internal economies.
Source: Times Online
Related Posts:
Gizmondo has settled its sponsorship agreement lawsuit with Jordan Grand Prix in an out of court mediation by the payment of $1,500,000 in cash and the issuance of 30,000 shares of the Company’s restricted common stock. Gizmondo had contracted with Jordan to feature Gizmondo advertisements on the side of Formula 1 race cars.
Source: Gamasutra
Related Posts:
Text of Blizzard v. BNetD Decision
Audio of Oral Arguments before the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals [MP3 from EFF]
In making a more stable and feature-rich, multi-player online video game server available for free to Blizzard’s video game customers, in competition to Blizzard’s own proprietary Battle.net server, the 8th circuit CA held, among other things, that the appellants’ (i) reverse engineering and circumventing of Blizzard’s CD key validation process; (ii) distribution of the resultant circumvention software; violated the anti-circumvention and anti-trafficking provisions of the DMCA.
Dale’s Comment: It seems to me that this is yet another unintended consequence of of the DMCA. The DMCA’s primary purpose is to protect copyright, not to protect Blizzard’s business model. So long as players are using properly purchased/licensed versions of the game, end users should not be liable if they create a competitive online means of playing that game.
Sources: CNet News | Gamasutra | ars technica | Red Herring | GameSpot | EFF Page on Case | EFF Critique of Case | Salon.com Back Story Article
Text of Sanity Patent
Nintendo was granted a patent for a sanity system for video games by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Dale’s Comment: This patent may not be enforceable due to being obvious. Or, if it is Quantic Dream may be in breach of this patent given that the main character, Lucas Kane, in it’s critically acclaimed Indigo Prophecy game (also known as “Fahrenheit” in Europe) is directly affected by his current mental health state. This game mechanic has clearly been used before.
Source: Team Xbox
EA is planning to spend $2.6 million to train current and future staff at its Montreal offices, with $660,000 worth of help coming directly from the Quebec government.
Source: Gamasutra
Viliami Fehoko (Vili) and E.A. have settled Fehoko’s earlier claim of using his character without compensation in E.A.’s NCAA Football 06 for an undisclosed amount of money, and the game will continue to be sold with Vili the Warrior in it.
Source: Game Politics | KHON2
Related Posts:
A Vienna court has rejected a petition by Australian developer Perception to have publisher JoWooD declared bankrupt after a series of disputes between the two companies.
Sources: Gameindustry.biz | GamaSutra | JoWooD Accused of Libel by Perception
