Sega sues Fox, EA over 'Simpsons' video game

[mikeetler]

http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/031204/media_sega_1.html

What took Sega so long to make the connection between the two games? Two years after release and someone at Sega finally bought a copy?

[neotokeo2001]

http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/031204/media_sega_1.html

What took Sega so long to make the connection between the two games? Two years after release and someone at Sega finally bought a copy?

You let the game go to market and sue after it has made money. You get bigger damages that way.

[GaijinPunch]

Sega will lose.
Look up all the Tetris lawsuits over the years.

[Darth Sensei]

Sega will lose.
Look up all the Tetris lawsuits over the years.

Yeah but the Tetris lawsuits were much more involved than this. I won't hash it all out here, but it wasn't about someone copying someone else, it was about someone securing rights and then Nintendo "stealing" them away afterwards.

D

[GaijinPunch]

The Tetris thing was that the original creators (I forgot who... Atari was it?) tried to sue everyone making Tetris clones. It set precedent that you can't copyright a style of a game, so to speak. I mean hell... think how many companies that make shooters would've been suing each other.

[kainemaxwell]

Geez is Sega slow...

[Astro Lad]

For an interesting case regarding an add-on which expounds on notions of "substantially similar" games, check out Micro Star v. Formgen, Inc., 154 F.3d 1107 (9th Cir. 1998). The 9th Circuit granted a preliminary injunction sought by the copyright holders of "Duke Nukem 3D" against a company seeking to distribute an add-on entitled "Nuke It" but not based on the game's content, only its use of screenshots on the box.

[Dahne]

If they win, you can bet Rockstar's gonna go after that new Simpsons GTA clone.

[zmweasel]

If they win, you can bet Rockstar's gonna go after that new Simpsons GTA clone.

Hit & Run has a couple of unique gameplay elements in comparison to GTA3/VC, whereas Road Rage was (and is) stunningly similar to Crazy Taxi. This will be a VERY interesting lawsuit to watch, with plenty of industry repercussions. And, hey, maybe it'll encourage lawsuit-wary game designers to come up with original ideas. (Wow, I managed to type that with a straight face.)

-- Z.

[orangemage]

i think sega belive fox will just settle out of court and thinks they can get some cash. i can't believe they think they will win how many GTA clones have there been?

[zmweasel]

i think sega belive fox will just settle out of court and thinks they can get some cash. i can't believe they think they will win how many GTA clones have there been?

By my count, four so far: Mafia (though it's really half Max Payne and half GTA), The Getaway (also a Payne/GTA combo), The Simpsons Hit & Run, and True Crime: Streets of L.A. What did I miss?

-- Z.

[Parodius]

Apart from Road Rage being a complete and utter rip-off, almost to the point of being a mod of CT, it is also utter garbage. How hard is it to make Crazy Taxi fun??

EA?? Fox?? Pivotal?? Anyone??

[Stark]

I guess Sega has to find ways to make money nowadays and this is probably the result of someones fantasy that those 2 games are so similar to warrant a lawsuit. I'd guess they will lose since I believe the whole Simpsons thing will warrant that game to be different than CT by its unique theme and characters but I'm no lawyer. 8-)

[ddockery]

A little off-topic, but am I the only one that didn't hate Road rage?

[Rogmeister]

No you're not. I didn't hate it and still play it on occasion...

[Raedon]

the old men of Actavision better be glad they don't live in this day and age.

[Kevin Listwan]

How the hell can you patent a type of game?

[can_dude]

maybe this is sega's way at getting back at EA after they decided to not make games for the Dreamcast, which had a very adverse effect on the systems sales (NFL 2k series was great but everyone wants a system that can play madden).

[Trellisaze]

Does anyone else find it incerdible that Sega got a patent for this in the first place?

They might have a good case for copyright infringement, but I'm wondering how something like "players take the role of a taxi driver who has to accomplish outrageous driving stunts to pick up passengers and quickly deliver them to their destinations" got patented.

[Predatorxs]

This is alittle off topic, but the tetris thing, wasn't it some guy in Russia that created the whole game, and he had the rights (kind off) stolen from him, by the then president of Russia He said at the time that "A russian made the game meaning it belonged to Russia AND it's people or more importantly it's Government"..

Leading to the Russian Government trying to take a huge cut of the then very popular (And still today! ;) ) Tetris, Dame Him!! :eek 2:

I think the creator of tetris ended up moving to the US to develope other games (wordtris, etc, etc), his name is plastered all over most if not all versions of tetris, i loved the Gameboy Version, i played that game for hundreds of hours, 221 lines, man that thing was fast, What a game!

Talking of great games Splinter Cell on the Gamecube, is the Shhhh*t!!! what a game, also whens "SC 2" Coming for the GC? tell me, tell me.... Pleaaaaaase LOL

(sorry for de-railing the topic alittle)

:embarrassed:

[josekortez]

I think cases like this have been done before, and the parties who create the original concept are usually the winners. Does anyone remember when/if Capcom sued Data East in the 1990's because Fighter's Destiny was too similar to Street Fighter II?

[ManekiNeko]

This is alittle off topic, but the tetris thing, wasn't it some guy in Russia that created the whole game, and he had the rights (kind off) stolen from him, by the then president of Russia He said at the time that "A russian made the game meaning it belonged to Russia AND it's people or more importantly it's Government"..

At the time, it wasn't Russia, but the Soviet Union that was in charge. Because the Soviet Union was communist, all intellectual property created by the citizens of the USSR belonged to the government itself. I agree that it's absurd and unfair, but hey, that's communism for you.
I'm assuming that by now, all rights to Tetris have reverted back to its creator. I doubt he's hurting for cash right now... although the rest of Russia certainly is!

JR

[Griking]

If everyone pretty much agrees that Road Rage is a blatant copy of Crazy Taxi then why shouldn't Sega take legal action? It seems like the majority of the reaction so far is that Sega is simply money grabbing here.

Would you think any differently if it was you who designed Crazy Taxi and it was your work that was copied?

[Neil Koch]

I liked Road Rage for a little bit. It got old after about a week.

[MarioAllStar2600]

I bought this game when it first came out. It's no doubt fun, but definatly copy of Crazy taxi. I noticed it when it first came out. FUn game though. I think Sega might win.

[Iron Draggon]

You let the game go to market and sue after it has made money. You get bigger damages that way.

Yeah, that's why they're not suing ValuSoft over Ambulance Driver for the PC. It's a Crazy Taxi rip-off too, but it's a really crappy one, so it's not making any money. And if it had been a big hit, I'm sure they'd be suing over it too.

[Ze_ro]

I agree that it's absurd and unfair, but hey, that's communism for you.
I'm assuming that by now, all rights to Tetris have reverted back to its creator. I doubt he's hurting for cash right now... although the rest of Russia certainly is!

I'm sure he's quite well off by now, but at the time, he actually didn't receive any money from it at all... it was only after the end of communism in Russia that he actually saw any profits from the game. Previously, the royalties all went straight to the government.


Does anyone else find it incerdible that Sega got a patent for this in the first place?

Actually, I'm not surprised in the least. The US Patent Office has awarded far stupider patents in their history. Does no one remember when people were trying to patent the humane genome? I can't believe some company would be that greedy and unethical... but hey, that's capitalism for you.

Getting back on topic a bit, I think the main reason that Sega waited as long as they did was to see if this product was actually going to be competition or not. Many people have mentioned Hit & Run vs GTA3, but really do you think that Rockstar lost any appreciable amount of money because of this competition? Probably not.

Meanwhile, Road Rage has actually turned out to be fairly popular, and actually does present legitimate competition to Sega's Crazy Taxi franchise. If the game had simply failed and went away, then Sega probably wouldn't care, since it means they wouldn't have lost any profits.

Although I don't agree with the ridiculous amount of litigation going on in North America lately, I have to say that I agree with Sega. Road Rage is such a blatant ripoff that Sega really deserves to win (Of course, I felt the same way with the whole Street Fighter vs Fighter's History thing, and that certainly didn't work out). Why can't they just make an original game with the Simpsons on it? Have they given up on creativity or something?

--Zero

[Ze_ro]

Yeah, that's why they're not suing ValuSoft over Ambulance Driver for the PC. It's a Crazy Taxi rip-off too

Didn't Sega actually make their own ambulance driving game? I can't seem to find it at the moment, and I forget the name, but I'm sure it was a japanese arcade game... I always thought it was funny how Sega ripped off their own game to make both the ambulance game and 18 Wheeler :roll:

--Zero

[zmweasel]

[quote="Ze_ro"][Actually, I'm not surprised in the least. The US Patent Office has awarded far stupider patents in their history. Does no one remember when people were trying to patent the humane genome?[/qote]

Heh! I hadn't heard about that. I was aware that it had issued numerous patents for perpetual-energy machines and dowsing rods, two ever-popular areas of pseudoscience.

-- Z.