Madden 12 News Post

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

06:34 PM - April 1, 2011 by Steve_OS

According to multiple sources Robin Antonick, developer of the first Madden title in 1988 for MS-DOS, Commodore, and Apple II platforms, claims EA owes him some kickback. Actually, he's looking for a LOT of kickback.

UPDATE: 1up received at statement from EA.

Quote:


	"EA has issued a statement to 1UP on the lawsuit. Tiffany Steckler said, "The complaint and its 20 year-old claim are utterly without merit."

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Member Comments

# 21 blklightning @ 04/03/11 08:42 AM

well what do you expect them to say, "yeah, he's right. who's got the checkbook?"

# 22 RedZoneD25 @ 04/03/11 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blklightning


	well what do you expect them to say, "yeah, he's right. who's got the checkbook?"

What a turn of events that would be. Yeah in all honesty I think this case is going to fall flat very soon.

# 23 TreFacTor @ 04/03/11 04:50 PM

i wonder how this goes in court, the guy as evidence pops in M11 and M89 and shows the scripts are the same or similar code... I hope he wins and in the process drops a bombshell on the gaming community... but the guy will most likely be paid up nicely and the case never sees the light of day.

# 24 mestevo @ 04/03/11 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TreFacTor


	i wonder how this goes in court, the guy as evidence pops in M11 and M89 and shows the scripts are the same or similar code... I hope he wins and in the process drops a bombshell on the gaming community... but the guy will most likely be paid up nicely and the case never sees the light of day.

What bombshell is there to be dropped on the gaming community?

The way this goes is EA asks for it to be dismissed, and a judge considers how credible/possible it is for his claim to have any merit. If his only proof is some statements in an interview by EA's founder then this isn't going to go very far IMO.

He wouldn't have access to 'scripts' prior discovery for a trial most likely.

# 25 TheDelta @ 04/03/11 06:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TreFacTor


	i wonder how this goes in court, the guy as evidence pops in M11 and M89 and shows the scripts are the same or similar code...

Won't happen. As simple as this. It's technologically impossible. The original Madden was developed in 1988 on what? Apple II or MS-DOS? M11 was developed in 2010 on the XBox360. It's simply impossible for there to be any similarities in code between those games warranting such a lawsuit.

That said, I'm sure the lawsuit is actually a lot more complicated than this and I'm not a lawyer (and from europe, so my experience with american law is limited), so I'm just speaking about the code of the game.

# 26 Gorilla Glass @ 04/03/11 10:06 PM

The Madden series was his idea and no one knows what agreement he and EA has. It will play out.

# 27 roadman @ 04/03/11 10:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gorilla Glass


	The Madden series was his idea and no one knows what agreement he and EA has. It will play out.

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.

# 28 huskerwr38 @ 04/04/11 12:38 AM

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.

What makes you say this?

# 29 mestevo @ 04/04/11 04:07 AM

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.

# 30 Hooe @ 04/04/11 08:59 AM

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.

# 31 Gorilla Glass @ 04/04/11 05:34 PM

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?

# 32 UNC_Pete @ 04/14/11 09:55 AM

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..

# 33 ryan36 @ 04/14/11 08:43 PM

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

# 34 bkrich83 @ 04/14/11 09:56 PM

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.

# 35 UNC_Pete @ 04/14/11 11:25 PM

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.

# 36 TheShizNo1 @ 04/15/11 12:00 PM

EA getting a lot of publicity this week.

# 37 Exonerated @ 04/15/11 12:15 PM

Utterly without merit!

It's easy to see why lawyers are so rich.

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