EA sued for lost royalties for copyrighted code!

djkav · 24 Jul 2013 at 11:12

Robin Antonick wins Madden lawsuit.

Antonick, a programmer who had played college football, says he was resopnsible for the programming innovations that allowed 22 players on the field and the execution of a real NFL playbook, as well as algorithms that would replicate player attributes.

Antonick's claim that he contributed to the Sega Genesis versions of Madden from 1991 to 1995. The Sega Genesis games up until January 1st, 1996 were ruled by the jury to be using Antonick's copyrighted material. Specifically, that the expression of the plays in Antonick's source code was used by EA in its games over time.

The jury has returned a verdict in programmer Robin Antonick's lawsuit against Electronic Arts over John Madden Football, finding in favor of Antonick. This leaves EA liable for what could be millions of dollars in royalties for multiple versions of Madden Football.

The sum could be considerable, because those royalties accrue 10 percent interest from the date they were incurred. A million dollars in royalties that was due in 1991 could therefore be closer to $9 million.

Source

ps3ud0 · 24 Jul 2013 at 13:05

Couldnt happen to a more deserving company! Wonder what the final royalty payout will be...

ps3ud0 :cool:

AtreuS · 24 Jul 2013 at 13:15

He will probably die of old age before he see's a penny

They will appeal and appeal and appeal for as long as they can, then appeal the damages a few times, could take years and they will hope he runs out of money first.

Psycho Sonny · 24 Jul 2013 at 13:18

ps3ud0 said:
Couldnt happen to a more deserving company! Wonder what the final royalty payout will be...

ps3ud0

i hope it's one of those ludicrous amounts like what samsung was hit with, like $5 billion

Greboth · 24 Jul 2013 at 14:10

AtreuS said:
He will probably die of old age before he see's a penny

They will appeal and appeal and appeal for as long as they can, then appeal the damages a few times, could take years and they will hope he runs out of money first.

It wouldn't suprise me if EA calculated the cost of the pay out v the cost of continued litigation. Who know what figures they came up with but if litigation was cheaper it wouldn't suprise me if they keep appealing. Though in saying that, I don't exactly how the courts work in terms of appealing so no idea how long they could keep it up for.

Psycho Sonny said:
i hope it's one of those ludicrous amounts like what samsung was hit with, like $5 billion

Haha that would be funny. So many factors but with the interest added on you have to see it being quite high.

VIPER258 · 24 Jul 2013 at 14:41

I hope he wins and takes them for millions.

djkav · 24 Jul 2013 at 17:32

silk300 said:
I hope he wins and takes them for millions.

He already has won.

They need a new panel to work out the royalties EA owes him. Its obvious that EA will appeal, and more than likely fail.

I'm guessing that there maybe a settlement agreement between both parties.

slinxy · 24 Jul 2013 at 18:05

good... can't stand EA.. I hope he get's everything that he's owed.

There's talk that they stole part the engine from tecmo.
they got the contract for sega's joe montana and made it 'bad' so madden sold better.

I hope more misfortune on them.

One · 24 Jul 2013 at 21:15

I do wonder how a programming case can be decided by a randomly selected jury, most of which will not be technically minded whatsoever. I must surely be clear cut whether his code is in EAs game or not, it shouldn't need a jury to feel sorry for the little guy vs the big corp.

ScarySquirrel · 24 Jul 2013 at 22:18

All aboard the 'I hate EA' bandwagon!!!

Soulja · 24 Jul 2013 at 22:41

ScarySquirrel said:
All aboard the 'I hate EA' bandwagon!!!

Why would you like a company that steals somebody else's hard work and thinks they can use it for free?

Tummy · 25 Jul 2013 at 01:21

I hope this brings EA to their knee's to be honest

, I doubt it will!

It would be nice to see the developers that are currently slaves to EA given the time frame and freedom to work on what they wanted.

pauLAW · 25 Jul 2013 at 08:34

I used to defend EA unil I had an issue with the Android version of Tapped Out, my game data was wiped due to the Origin update, result of this meant I lost a lot of the in game donuts - which you PAY FOR.

EA have done NOTHING with my support request, I have sent countless emails asking for help, the last I heard it had been sent to a tech support team, that was about 3/4 months ago..... as far as im concerned they owe me money! let them burn.

Psycho Sonny · 26 Jul 2013 at 13:21

pauLAW said:
I used to defend EA

you must not use a lot of their software?

they have been destroying games for over a decade now, god how i wish someone would come up with a new C and C game that is decent.

they also seem to be pushing out craply coded games full of bugs/flaws with no intention of fixing them but focusing on improving the way to generate more income through the sale of add-on's or in game items which without you struggle in game.