MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
Warner Bros is being sued by the estate of JRR Tolkien over its use of the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit IPs in a virtual slot machine game. The Tolkien estate has filed an $80m claim stating that the company is in violation of the licensing agreement that states …
Read More »Sony is suing Kevin Butler
The beautiful relationship between Sony and its make-believe executive Kevin Butler has come to a sticky end. The PlayStation platform holder is suing advertising firm Wildcat Creek – whose president is Kevin Butler actor Jerry Lambert – over the Kevin Butler IP. Sony claims that Wildcat used a near exact …
Read More »Def Jam Rapstar dev sued for $8m
Record label EMI is suing the developers of music game Def Jam Rapstar in an $8m lawsuit for allegedly not obtaining song rights. EMI is seeking damages from the ‘theft of songs’ from artists like Kanye West, DMX and Lil Wayne, which were used in the game without permission, claims …
Read More »Yahoo sues Facebook claiming 10 patent breaches
Internet search and services firm Yahoo is suing social networking king Facebook, accusing it of ten patent breaches. "Yahoo’s patents relate to cutting edge innovations in online products, including in messaging, news feed generation, social commenting, advertising display, preventing click fraud and privacy controls," the lawsuit claims. "Facebook’s entire social …
Read More »Adidas sues THQ for $10m
THQ is being sued by Adidas for $10 million after it failed to bring keep-fit title MiCoach to market, according to reports. TheOregonainclaims that the sports giant has filed a lawsuit through the Multnomah Country Circuit Court in Oregon, US, for breach of contract after a deal signed in December …
Read More »200,000 BitTorret users sued in US
Since the beginning of 2010 the total number of US internet users who have been legally approached regarding BitTorrent piracy has now hit 200,000. TorrentFreak reports that the tactic has now become a feasible new revenue stream for copyright holders. Typically, once the contact details of those who have allegedly …
Read More »Namco Bandai sues CD Projekt over Xbox 360 Witcher 2 rights
Having successfully brought the PC version of acclaimed RPG The Witcher 2 to PC, Namco Bandai has launched legal action against CD Projekt over its decision to hand the Xbox 360 publishing rights to THQ. Gamepur reports that Namco Bandai is filing action on two counts – firstly, that the …
Read More »Madden creator sues EA
EA could be liable for "potentially billions of dollars" after the co-creator of the very first Madden video game announced he is taking the publisher to court. Since its inception the Madden series has sold in excess of 85m copies generating in the region of $4bn in profit. Now Reuters …
Read More »Hotz flees to South America
The hacker at the centre of an increasingly bizarre legal battle with PS3 has reportedly fled to South America. VGHQ has unearthed Sony documents claiming that George Hotz has been removing key components from his electrical equipment so as to hide crucial information the company is trying to unearth as …
Read More »Apple suing Amazon.com
As many had expected, Apple is suing retailer Amazon.com over its use of the term ‘App Store’ to describe its new Android digital app portal. Bloomberg reports that Apple is seeking both to prevent the use of the term and for unspecified damages. The complaint was filed on March 18th. …
Read More »