Copyright

Lawsuits

Take-Two & Epic file Motions to Dismiss

Ferguson v. Epic Games, Inc. United States District Court for the Central District of California Filed Dec. 5, 2018, CACD-2-18-cv-10110 Ferguson v. Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. United States District Court for the…

CACD-2-18-cv-10110 CACD-2:18-cv-10412 CACD-2:18-cv-10417 CACD-2:18-cv-10425
Lawsuits

Update – Bethesda settles with Warner Bros. over Westworld Game

Bethesda Softworks LLC v. Behaviour Interactive, Inc., et al United States District Court for the District of Maryland Docket No. 8:18-cv-01846-RWT, filed June 21, 2018 Back in June 2018, Bethesda Softworks filed…

8:18-cv-01846-RWT Bethesda Softworks LLC v. Behaviour Interactive Inc. et al Copyright copyright infringement
Lawsuits

Baker v. Epic Games

Baker v. Epic Games, Inc. United States District Court for the Central District of California Filed January 23, 2019, Case: 2:19-cv-00505   On January 23, 2019, James Baker, a.k.a. BlocBoy JB was…

2:19-cv-00505 Baker v. Epic Games Central District of California Copyright
Lawsuits

Orange Shirt Kid is the latest viral dancer to sue Epic

Rachel McCumbers v. Epic Games, Inc. et al United States District Court for the Central District of California Filed January 11, 2019, CACD-2-19-cv-00260 Yet another person has filed a lawsuit against Epic…

CACD-2-19-cv-00260 Central District of California Copyright copyright infringement
Analysis

Law Review: A History of US Video Game Litigation

We’re proud to announce that the Patent Arcade’s own, Ross Dannenberg & Josh Davenport, have published a new law review article on the history of US video game litigation, including analysis of…

Articles Copyright Law Review litigation
Lawsuits

Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com LLC et al.

Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com LLC et al.Supreme Court of the United States On January 8th, 2019, the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments in Fourth Estate…

Copyright Copyright Office Copyright Registration Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com LLC et al.
Lawsuits

Lawsuits filed against Epic and Take-Two over dance emotes

Ferguson v. Epic Games, Inc.United States District Court for the Central District of CaliforniaFiled Dec. 5, 2018, CACD-2-18-cv-10110 Ferguson v. Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.United States District Court for the Central District of…

CACD-2-18-cv-10110 CACD-2:18-cv-10412 CACD-2:18-cv-10417 CACD-2:18-cv-10425
Lawsuits

Epic Sues Two Streamers for Selling Cheat Tools

Epic Games, Inc. v. Lucas et al United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina Civil Docket Number: 5:18-cv-00484-BO Epic Games is suing more individuals for cheating in Fortnite,…

5:18-cv-00484-BO Cheating Copyright copyright infringement
Lawsuits

Nintendo wins $12 million judgment against ROM websites

Nintendo of America, Inc. v. Mathias et al. United States District Court for the District of Arizona Case No. 2:18-cv-02282-SPL Final Judgement issued November 9, 2018 On November 9, 2018, the United…

2:18-cv-02282-SPL Copyright copyright infringement District of Arizona
Lawsuits

Tetris Holding, LLC v. Xio Interactive, Inc.

Tetris Holding, LLC v. Xio Interactive, Inc. 863 F.Supp.2d 394 United States District Court for the District of New Jersey May 30, 2012 We were recently talking among ourselves about copyright protection…

863 F.Supp.2d 394 clone copycat games Copyright
Lawsuits

Nintendo Wins Against Real Life Mario Kart

Nintendo Wins Against Real Life Mario Kart It is being reported that Nintendo has won a lawsuit against a Tokyo go-kart rental service called Mari Mobility, previously MariCar. The Tokyo District Court…

Copyright japan Mario Mario Kart
Lawsuits

Nintendo goes after ROMs

Nintendo of America, Inc. v. Mathias et al United States District Court for the District of Arizona Case No. 2:18-cv-02282-SPL On July 19, 2018, Nintendo of America filed a lawsuit in the…

2:18-cv-02282-SPL Case No. 2:18-cv-02282-SPL Copyright copyright infringement
Lawsuits

Grinch Parody ruled a Fair Use

Lombardo v. Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L.P 279 F. Supp. 3d 497 (S.D.N.Y. 2017), aff’d, No. 17-2952-cv, 2018 WL 3323476 (2d Cir. 2018) On July 6, 2018, the Second Circuit upheld the Southern…

17 USC 107 Broadway Copyright Dr. Seuss
Lawsuits

Conan Properties et al. v. Sanchez (EDNY) – Copyright in Characters

Conan Properties Int’l LLC et al. v. Ricardo Jove Sanchez United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York Case No. 1:17-cv-00162-FB-RLM, Memorandum and Order of August 15, 2018  …

Characters Conan v. Sanchez Copyright Eastern District of New York
Lawsuits

Atari sues Indy T-Shirt Websites

Atari Interactive, Inc. v. RedBubble, Inc. United States District Court for the Northern District of California Docket No. 3-18-cv-03451, filed June 11, 2018 Atari Interactive, Inc. v. Zazzle, Inc. United States District…

Atari Atari Interactive v. RedBubble Copyright copyright infringement
Lawsuits

Bethesda sues Warner Bros. over Westworld Mobile Game

  Bethesda Softworks LLC v. Behaviour Interactive, Inc., et al United States District Court for the District of Maryland Docket No. 8:18-cv-01846-RWT, filed June 21, 2018 On June 21, 2018, Bethesda Softworks…

Behaviour Interactive Bethesda Bethesda Softworks Bethesda Softworks v. Behaviour Interactive
Lawsuits

Update – PUBG withdraws lawsuit against Epic

PUBG Corp., the Korean Subsidiary of Bluehole Studios (the developer of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds), has dropped its lawsuit against Fortnite developer Epic Games Inc. PUBG had filed a copyright infringement claim against Epic…

Battle Royale Copyright Copyrights Epic
Lawsuits

How do you perform a video game?

Epic Games, Inc. et al v. Mendes et al United States District Court for the Northern District of California CAND-3-17-cv-06223, Filed Oct. 27, 2017 We recently reported on Epic Games suing individuals…

17 USC 106(4) Cheating Copyright Copyrights
Misc

New Game Law Journal – Interactive Entertainment Law Review (and read our article!)

If you’ve ever been to Queen Mary’s excellent More than Just a Game events, you have probably heard of the new Interactive Entertainment Law Review journal launched by Profs. Dimita, Mimler, and…

Copyright eSports IELR Journal
Lawsuits

A Battle Royale is Brewing

PUBG Corporation, makers of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, have filed a lawsuit against Epic Games, makers of Fortnite, in South Korea. The lawsuit was filed in the Seoul Central District Court in January. PUBG…

Battle Royale California Copyright Epic Games