UPDATE: Madden Creator Suing Electronic Arts, EA Responds Claim Utterly Without Merit

[TheRealHST]

Statute of Limitations???? ... and why wait now? smh

[mestevo]

Copyright law is something like 5 years of the violation(s) hard to imagine IP goes much further out than that... and it would have to stretch out quite a bit to cover what he's talking about. I wonder if it's 20 years, since he specifically mentions Madden 09 (20th anniversary). Even patent infringement, something much more serious than copyright... is only 6 years from the date of the lawsuit is filed I think.

[Hooe]

Quote: Originally Posted by Cre8

Only a matter of time before EA collapses in on itself. Whether this guy has a case or not (statute of limitations, much?... his weak claim of original program architecture or whatever it is can easily be lied about on EA's part) I hope this brings some light to the shady practices of game companies and CEOs. Bobby Kotick is a primary example of everything wrong with the gaming industry. While he is Activision's CEO (not EA's) I am convinced that game companies are getting ready to buckle under their own weight.

Activision is its own special pile of garbage that has nothing to do with what EA may be. While EA has its own positives and negatives, Activision finds intellectual property and blatantly and shamelessly milks it until it's dead. They did it with Tony Hawk, Spiderman, Guitar Hero, and the way it's going they will do the same to Call of Duty. Not helping this money-dominated image is how they treated Infinity Ward after the release of Modern Warfare 2, in which they withheld royalties from developers (part of what they are now in a lawsuit for). Unfortunately as long as they have the money-printing World of Warcraft in their fold, they aren't going anywhere.

[Gorilla Glass]

Quote: Originally Posted by roadman

Actually, it was Trip Hawkins idea and he went to John Madden for his ideas. Madden told Hawkins if it isn't 11 vs 11, I don't want anything to do with it. Hawkins worked for EA at the time. As other posters have said, it will play out, but it won't reach court or if it does, a judge may dismiss it. We'll see.

Well OK, maybe EA throws this guy a bone or something. After-all he is one of the fore-fathers of this game. I wonder if the guy try to meet with EA in private?

[UNC_Pete]

I just thought of something. The article says about the 20th Anniversary Edition of Madden is what made him realize they are still using his code. Isn't that the one where you can play Madden '93? His code may have been used there..

[ryan36]

Quote: Originally Posted by UNC_Pete

I just thought of something. The article says about the 20th Anniversary Edition of Madden is what made him realize they are still using his code. Isn't that the one where you can play Madden '93? His code may have been used there..

I don't know how "game code storage" works but my guess is all the code is archived somewhere. If they made his game playable on current gen wouldn't they have had to update it somehow

[bkrich83]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheDelta

No he isn't. He claims that the current software is "derived" from the work he did in '88. Since something like this would be awfully hard to prove if it was just a year and one cycle removed from the original, much less over 20 years, cycles and at least 4 platforms, this lawsuit really has no merit and EA won't pay him one dollar.

Thank You. Very well put.

[UNC_Pete]

Quote: Originally Posted by ryan36

I don't know how "game code storage" works but my guess is all the code is archived somewhere. If they made his game playable on current gen wouldn't they have had to update it somehow

They would need to port it, yes, but technically it would derive from his initial code.