User:Masem/List of video game related court cases in the United States

This is a partial list of court cases heard in the United States involving video games, including video game software, hardware, and people and companies involved. These cases have either established case law involving video games, or have been cases of significant importance to the industry.

Case law

These cases have generally been established as case law in the area of video games, establishing precedents that have been used in subsequent cases.

Case name	Year decided	Court	Topic area	Summary
Atari v. North American Phillips Consumer Electronics	1982	Court of Appeals	Copyright	Unable to get a license for Pac-Man, Magnavox (a subsidary of Phillips) created Munchkin (originally K.C. Munchkin) to sell on the Magnavox Odyssey, releasing their title before Atari's own first Pac-Man title for the Atari 2600. Atari sued and won, with the Court ruling on grounds that while Munchkin gameplay was legally similar to Pac-Man, the game used too similar artwork and marketing language from it. The case established the issues of video game clones at the height of the Golden age of arcade video games.
Stern Electronics, Inc. v. Kaufman	1982	Court of Appeals	Copyright	Stern Electronics, under license from Konami, released the arcade game Scramble in 1981. Shortly thereafter, Omni Video Games, Inc. started selling Scramble 2, which had considerable similarities to Scramble. Stern sued Omni for copyright infringement, though Omni argued that only the underlying computer code could be copyrighted, and not the effects the code generated. The Court ruled in favor of Stern and that the graphics and sounds of a video game are treated as separate copyrights from the computer code.
Midway Manufacturing Co. v. Artic International, Inc.	1982	Court of Appeals	Copyright	Midway sued Artic for its manufacture of arcade games that copied from Midway's titles (such as Artic's Puckman to Midway's Pac-Man). Artic argued that Midway's games were not copyrightable as they were only displayed in a transient manner (on a video screen). The Courts sided with Midway, finding that displaying images to a screen is a means of "fixation" with respect to copyright law.
Data East USA, Inc. v. Epyx, Inc.	1988	Court of Appeals	Copyright	Data East sued Epyx claiming that their game International Karate infringed on Data East's Karate Champ due to similar look and feel. Though Data East won in District Court, Eypx prevailed on appeal, with the Court of Appeals stating that there were scènes à faire that were intrinsic to a karate game and which could not be copyrighted.
Atari Games Corp. v. Oman	1992	Court of Appeals	Copyright	Atari filed suit against Copyright Registrar Ralph Oman for failing to grant copyright for Breakout, Oman citing the game was too simple for copyright protection. The Court of Appeals ruled video games, even with simple graphics, do quality for copyright protection.
Lewis Galoob Toys, Inc. v. Nintendo of America, Inc.	1992	Court of Appeals	Copyright	Galoob had produced the Game Genie for the Nintendo Entertainment System; the device sat between the game cartridge and console and allowed the player to enter cheat codes. Nintendo argued this created a derivative work of their games, and sued. The Courts found for Galoob, asserting that consumers have the right to modify products they purchased for personal use.
Sega v. Accolade	1992	Court of Appeals	Reverse engineering	Accolade had reversed engineered the Sega Genesis to release games without having to go through Sega; Sega accused them of copyright and trademark violations. The Court ruled that Accolade's actions were within the scope of fair use laws, and established legal precedent for some degree of allowable reverse engineering under fair use.
MDY Industries, LLC v. Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.	2010	Court of Appeals	Copyright, End-user license agreements	MDY Industries sold Glider, a bot for players to advance their character in Blizzard's World of Warcraft. MDY attempted to get declaratory judgment that Glider did not violate Blizzard's copyrights, but was challenged by Blizzard. The Courts ruled that Glider violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in circumventing copyright protection and made end users liable under Blizzard's end-user license agreement.
Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Ass'n	2011	Supreme Court of the United States	Video game rating systems	In a landmark case, the Supreme Court struct down a 2002 California law banning the sale of violent video games to children without supervision, and effectively establishing video games as a form of protected speech.

Contract law

These cases are typically disputes over contracts or other disputes, and are not considered case law, but still have had an effect on the video game industry.

Case name	Year decided/settled	Court	Topic area	Summary
Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Nintendo Co., Ltd.	1984	District court	Trademarks	Universal sued Nintendo for trademark infringement on the basis that Donkey Kong was too similar to King Kong. Nintendo argued that, by Universal's admission, King Kong had fallen into the public domain. Nintendo won the case, which helped to establish the company as a major player in the United States media market.
Immersion v. Sony	2007	Court of Appeals	Patent	Immersion Corporation owned patents for tactile feedback from gaming controllers, and sued Microsoft and Sony for infringement based on their respective console controllers. Microsoft settled, but Sony fought back, but ultimate lost with a penalty of $82 million; the companies have since reached a settlement and ended litigation.
Silicon Knights v. Epic Games	2012	Court of Appeals	Copyright	Silicon Knights had acquired a license to Epic Games' Unreal engine for use in Too Human, but sued Epic due to perceived failings on delivering specifics on the engine. Epic countersued, during which it was discovered Silicon Knights had reissued code provided by Epic as its own copyright. Epic won the appeal, and was awarded $4.5 million, while requiring Silicon Knights to destroy all unsold copies of games using the Unreal engine, and forcing the studio into bankruptcy.
West and Zampella v. Activision	2012	State court	Contracts and royalties	Several lawsuits were issued between Activision, Infinity Ward co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella, and other related parties following the release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Activision cited contract breaches by West and Zampella that led to their dismissal, while the two and the studio asserted the lack of contractually-obligated unpaid royalties. The suits were primarily settled prior to reaching court.
Rhode lsland Economic Development Corporation v. Wells Fargo Securities, LLC et al.	2017	State court	Contracts	38 Studios had received a $75 million loan in public funds from the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (EDC) in 2010 to bring the game development studio to the state and create jobs. Their first game Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was only a moderate success, and the company started to default on loan payments, eventually declaring bankruptcy by 2012. The state's Commerce Corporation sued several of the parties involved with the EDC, 38 Studios and the banks backing the loan, and have entered numerous settlements since 2014 to recover $61 million of the funds.
ZeniMax v. Oculus	2017	District court	Copyright	ZeniMax Media sued Oculus VR alleging that its former employee John Carmack took knowledge and code relating to ZeniMax's own work in virtual reality and, violating his non-disclosure agreement, used it in the development of the Oculus Rift. A jury trail found in favor of ZeniMax, with $500 million in penalties assessed to Oculus VR and its executives.

Civil cases

These are civil lawsuits filed that do not establish case law but are notable in the video game industry.

Case name	Year decided	Court	Topic area	Summary
Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. v. Thompson	2007	District court		Attorney Jack Thompson had been extremely vocal about violent games, and specifically targeted those being released by Take-Two Interactive, at the time of the lawsuit, Grand Theft Auto IV, Manhunt 2, and Bully, threatening to use Florida state courts to block sales of these games. Take-Two sued to enjoin Thompson from taking such actions. The parties settled out of court, with Thompson agreeing to not to seek means to block their sales.

See also

• List of copyright case law
• List of United States Supreme Court copyright case law