Sega v. Sabella
From Sega Retro
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| Sega Enterprises Ltd. vs Sabella |
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| Court: United States District Court for the Northern District of California |
| Argued: 1995 |
| Decided: 1995-12-18[1] |
| Judge(s) sitting: Claudia Ann Wilken |
| Holding |
| Sabella's operation of The Sewer Line BBS, her solicitation of uploaded Sega video games, and her sale of cartridge copiers infringed upon the trademarks of Sega Enterprises. |
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Sega Enterprises Ltd. v. Sabella, C93-04260 CW[2] (N.D. Cal 1996), is a 1995 case in which Sega Enterprises sued Sharon Sabella, an operator of a online BBS known for sharing pirated Mega Drive games.[1]
History
Sharon Sabella operated an electronics shop named Sharon's Data Systems, which both sold illegal game cartridge copiers and hosted an online bulletin board system titled The Sewer Line. Multiple ROMs of Sega video games (particularly Mega Drive games like Sonic the Hedgehog Spinball were commonly uploaded to the BBS, with Sabella soliciting users for uploads. In 1995[1], Sega Enterprises sued Sabella for copyright and trademark infringement under both federal and state law. Sabella submitted testimony that she did not know that users were uploading or downloading games that were copyrighted by Sega or that had the Sega trademark. Sega moved for summary judgment as to the trademark infringement and for false designation of origin under federal trademark law.[3]