Lawsuits
CASE SETTLED: Square Enix v. various sword retailers
On February 24, 2009, Square Enix settled another lawsuit. According to its press release, the lawsuit named at least four national wholesalers of unlicensed sword replicas and their principals that have infringed…
New Case: Worlds.com v. NCSoft (E.D.Tex., filed Dec. 24, 2008)
Merry Christmas, you’ve been sued. It’s not uncommon for plaintiffs to file lawsuits around the holidays in order to “turn the screws” on defendants, and that appears to be the case here.…
Case Update: Nintendo v. Nyko SETTLED
As previously reported, Nintendo sued Nyko for design patent infringement and trademark infringement over the Wii’s nunchuk controller. On Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008, the parties filed a STIPULATION for Dismissal of Action…
Case: Capcom v. MKR (ND Cal. 2008)
Capcom Co., Ltd. et. al. v. The MKR Group N.D. Cal. 2008 (by Shawn Gorman) While relatively short lived, this legal battle provides several insights for both video game producers and their…
Case: THQ v. Activision – SETTLED
Well, as is often the case, the cost to settle far outweighs the cost to litigate to prove a point. It appears that is true here. As we previously reported, THQ sued…
New Case: Motiva v. Nintendo (patent infringement)
Well, it looks like Nintendo has been sued for patent infringement again. This time by Motiva LLC, for infringement of U.S. Pat. No. 7,292,151, which is directed to a “Human Movement Measurement…
Case: ESS v. Rock Star (9th Cir. 2008) [T]
E.S.S. Entertainment 2000 v. Rock Star Video __ F.3d __ (9th Cir. 2008) (by Shawn Gorman) The (in)famous Grand Theft Auto series, produced by Rock Star Games, has become synonymous with legal…
IP Alert: In re Bilski
Further to the previous post, here is a more comprehensive write-up prepared by Brad Wright, a partner of mine at Banner & Witcoff, Ltd.: Intellectual Property Advisory: Court Limits Patents on Business…
Case: In re Bilski limits patentable subject matter
While not strictly a video game case, the Federal Circuit today (October 30, 2008) released its decision in In re Bilski regarding the limits on patentable subject matter, which could certainly affect…
New Case: THQ v. Activision Blizzard
On October 23, 2008, THQ filed a new lawsuit against Activision Blizzard for trade dress and copyright infringement regarding Activision’s planned release of “SCORE International Baja 1000 The Official Game” in late…
Case: MDY v. Blizzard (D.Az. 2008) [C]
MDY Industries, LLC v. Blizzard Entertainment, Inc., et al. (D. Ariz. 2008) Update on December 14, 2010: The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s 2009 injunction barring the…
Case Update: Willis v. Electronic Arts (D.Nev.)
Willis v. Electronic Arts U.S. District Court, District of Nevada Case No. 08-cv-01311, Filed September, 29, 2008 Case Update: This case was closed on November 18, 2009, following notice of voluntary dismissal…
Case: Aristocrat v. IGT (Fed. Cir. 2008)
Aristocrat v. IGT United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Decided Sep. 22, 2008 At this stage, this case is more about an esoteric legal issue, rather than any substantive…
Case Update: Activision v. Gibson – Claim Construction
As previously reported, Gibson asserts that Activision’s Guitar Hero franchise infringes on some Gibson patents. Gibson’s patent claims a “musical instrument” that produces an “instrument audio signal.” Naturally, in view of Guitar…
Case Update: Bally v. IGT (D.Nev.)
In Bally Gaming Inc. v. IGT, case number 3:06-cv-00483, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada, Bally Sued International Game Technology (IGT) for infringement of U.S. Pat. No. 7,100,916.…
Case: Merit v. JVL settles in E.D. Penn.
Merit Industries Inc. v. JVL Corp. case number 03-1618 (E.D. Penn – Settled) Merit Industries and JVL Corp. have settled their ongoing litigation over countertop arcade games. Merit sued JVL back in…
News: CBS sues NFL over Fantasy stats…
In a move reminiscent of the CBC v. MLB case over use of baseball players’ names and statistics in fantasy football leagues, CBS Interactive sued the NFL Players’ Association over the rights…
Case: Frybarger v. IBM (9th Cir. 1987) – Copyright
Frybarger v. Int’l Business Mach. Corp. 812 F.2d 525 (9th Cir. 1987) Before the introduction of sprawling virtual environments, ragdoll physics, and parallel GPUs, the video game industry lived in an 8-bit…
Case: Incredible Tech. v. Virtual Tech (7th Cir. 2005)
Incredible Technologies, Inc. v. Virtual Technologies, Inc. 400 F.3d 1007 (7th Cir. 2005) If someone familiar with Golden Tee, the ubiquitous pub golf video game, was asked to describe its unique characteristics,…
Case Update: Anascape v. Nintendo final judgment
In the ongoing dispute between Anascape, Ltd., an invention and license-holding company, against Nintendo of America regarding Nintendo’s use of three patents a jury had found the video game company to infringe,…