CartridgeCulture/Lawsuits

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The following is a list of lawsuits involving Sega.

List of lawsuits

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Name Citation Argued Decided Holding Comments
Sega Enterprises, Inc. v. Computer Video Services 198x[1] 198x Although the specific game which caused the lawsuit goes unmentioned, Cash Box implies it may have been a Frogger clone.[1]
Sega Enterprises, Inc. v. London Conversion Company 198x[1] 198x Although the specific game which caused the lawsuit goes unmentioned, Cash Box implies it may have been a Frogger clone.[1]
Sega Enterprises, Inc. v. Omni Micro Technology Ltd. 1981-12 1982-01 In December 1981, Sega Enterprises, Inc. filed a lawsuit against the company for illegally distributing a clone of Frogger named Leapfrog.[1] Deemed to be a "substantial copy" of the original game, Sega obtained orders to seize infringing goods and documents relating to the title from Omni's offices. The company was also forced to provide written notification to England's High Court promising to desist from any further acts of infringement.[1][2]


Following the lawsuit, Omni appears to have entered into an agreement with Sega Enterprises to properly license and distribute Frogger through their signature Gamepack system, being advertised as early as January 1982 - the following month.[3][4] Fittingly, the company featured this newly-acquired official license front and center in print ads, now boasting "the support of the world's major 'original' game manufacturers".[5]

Sega Enterprises Ltd. v. Richards 1982[6] 1983[6] In 1982, Sega successfully sued Mr. John Richards of the arcade distribution company Trolfame for illegally distributing Frogger clones, cited as one of the earliest cases of video game copyright law being tested - and the general foundation of modern anti-piracy game law.[6]
Sega Enterprises, Inc. v. Alca 198x 198x Sega successfully sued Trolfame for illegally distributing Frogger clones.[7]
RazorSoft, Inc. v. Sega of America, Inc. 1991-07-22[8][9][10] In 1991, disagreements between RazorSoft and Sega over the cost and order size of Sega's proprietary Sega Mega Drive cartridges[11][12] led to Stormlord being released in a smaller run of self-manufactured cartridges (as opposed to purchasing them directly from Sega, as contractually-obliged.)[11][10] While the company still paid full royalties to Sega[11][12], their developer license was revoked in June 1991, and Sega refused to publish any of their future games. RazorSoft then sued for breach of the Sherman Antitrust Act on July 22, 1991.[8][9][10]
Sega of America, Inc. v. RazorSoft, Inc. 1991-08[8][9][10] Following RazorSoft's July 1991 lawsuit against the company, Sega of America counter-sued both RazorSoft and its development studio Punk Development the following month for copyright infringement and breach of contract.[8][9][10] The final outcome was settled out of court, with RazorSoft agreeing to purchase future cartridges from Sega, having their developer license restored, and Sega dropping the lawsuit.[11]
Sega Enterprises Ltd. v. Accolade, Inc. 977 F.2d 1510 (9th Cir. 1992) 1992-07-20 1992-10-20 Accolade's acts of reverse engineering Sega Genesis software to learn about its security systems and subsequent publishing of unlicensed Sega Genesis games are protected under the fair use doctrine of copyright law. Sega is held responsible for using its security system to place its trademark on Accolade's games.
Atari Corp. v. Sega of America, Inc. 869 F. Supp. 783 (N.D. Cal. 1994)[13] 1993[14] 1994-08-12[13]
Sega Enterprises Ltd. v. Maphia 857 F. Supp. 679[15] 1994
948 F.Supp. 923[15] 1996-12-18

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 File:CashBox US 1981-12-12.pdf, page 45
  2. ↑ K Horowitz (2018). The Sega Arcade Revolution: A History in 62 Games
  3. ↑ https://archive.org/details/leisure-play-3-2/page/n43/mode/2up?q=omni+gamepack
  4. ↑ https://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?threads%2Fgeneral-questions-and-information-thread.26211%2Fpage-129#post-1048187 (Wayback Machine: 2023-07-27 10:02)
  5. ↑ File:Frogger AC UK printad OmniMicroTechnology Gamepack.png
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 https://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?threads/general-questions-and-information-thread.26211/page-129#post-1048224
  7. ↑ Talk:Frogger/Bootlegs
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 File:PhoenixtheFallandRiseofVideoGames Book US 3rd.pdf, page 153
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 GamePro, "November 1991" (US; 1991-xx-xx), page 142
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Punk_Development
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Interview:Kevin_Seghetti (Wayback Machine: 2021-06-08 05:24)
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 https://www.gamingalexandria.com/wp/2019/01/the-history-of-stormlord/
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/869/783/1495595/
  14. ↑ http://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Blog:Arcade_Classics_(Game_Gear/Genesis) (Wayback Machine: 2023-05-26 14:08)
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 http://digital-law-online.info/cases/41PQ2D1705.htm
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