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Sony understandably seeks control over the market for devices that play games Sony produces or licenses. The copyright law, however, does not confer such a monopoly." [4] The Ninth Circuit Court also reversed the district court's ruling that the Virtual Game Station tarnished Sony's "PlayStation" trademark.
The first video game cases raised the issue of whether a video game's graphics counted as a fixed work, an essential first step for copyright protection. Courts consistently ruled for the plaintiffs, that copyright indeed protected games as audiovisual works, more than protecting the underlying code. [2]
The copyright cases of Midway, Galoob, and Micro Star continue to guide the law around game modifications, that a permanent modification is likely copyright infringement, where an impermanent modification is not. [27] The Galoob precedent has led courts to permit the use of third-party software to manipulate and cheat at other games. [30]
The lawsuit was part of a trend of "knock-off" video games in the early 1980s, with courts recognizing that a video game can qualify for protection as a copyrighted audiovisual work. Both Galaxian and Pac-Man were bestselling games in the early 1980s, with Pac-Man generating over $1 billion in revenues, as well as sequels, merchandising, and a ...
Data East that suggests a more skeptical view towards copyright protection for video games. [ 12 ] John Quagliariello argues that this was one of several cases that made it near impossible for a video game copyright holder to win a lawsuit against a potential infringer, especially considering the cost of a lawsuit versus the risk of an ...
Various crossover games bring in characters, settings and other elements from other video games commonly outside of the publisher's IP realm, such as in the case of the Super Smash Bros. series. This type of licensing tends to pose an issue for the retention and preservation of video games particular on digital download services.
Stern Electronics, Inc v. Kaufman was one of the first lawsuits prompted by the increase in "knock-off" video games in the early 1980s. [13] The University of Pennsylvania Law Review has noted the ruling as one of the earliest and leading cases where the court found copyright infringement in a video game. [7]
Playing a radio broadcast of a copyrighted work at a business was not copyright infringement Radio reception does not constitute a "performance" of copyrighted material. Reyher v. Children's Television Workshop: 533 F.2d 87: 2d Cir. 1976 The essence of infringement lies in taking not a general theme but its particular expression Gilliam v.