Post by: WindyMan on December 06, 2003, 10:26:18 AM
Simpsons Road Rage is a product of developer Radical Games, and publishers Fox Interactive (now Vivendi) and Electronic Arts. Sega is taking all these parties to court for infringing on a patent that it holds for Crazy Taxi.
Sega says that the year-old Road Rage game was designed to "deliberately copy and imitate" Crazy Taxi, using reviews from numerous publications as sources. The suit wants a halt to sales of the game, recalls of copies currently at retail, and lost profits in the form of damages repaid to Sega.
EA or Vivendi had not seen the lawsuit, and were unavailable for comment.
Post by: Knoxxville on December 06, 2003, 01:15:19 PM
Checkmate!
Post by: jasonditz on December 06, 2003, 01:46:05 PM
Post by: - NintendoFan - on December 06, 2003, 02:06:25 PM
Post by: jasonditz on December 06, 2003, 02:23:40 PM
I know Sega's having money troubles but this seems pretty pathetic to me. Crazy Taxi isn't even on the market anymore, its not like a crappy Simpsons ripoff title was going to hurt sales.
Seems like the once great Sega is fast becoming the Acclaim of Japan. Marginal titles (read: Dreamcast ports) and lawsuits are not the way to run a successful company.
Take notes, runners of Nintendo, this is what NOT to do.
I just wish Microsoft would hurry up and offer them a giant bag of money to put them out of their misery.
Post by: Ocarina Blue on December 06, 2003, 04:07:24 PM
Post by: Bill Aurion on December 06, 2003, 05:06:37 PM
Post by: Dryden on December 06, 2003, 05:30:09 PM
Imagine - a Simpsons game with original gameplay! Something not seen since the says of the Simpson Arcade game - still one of the best arcade side-scrollers to date!
Post by: Djunknown on December 06, 2003, 06:15:31 PM
What is Sega of America thinking? Are they even thinking?
Post by: jasonditz on December 06, 2003, 06:44:29 PM
Quote
Originally posted by: Dryden
It'll be interesting to see if this holds up. I hope that this sets more of a precedent for originality in games.
Imagine - a Simpsons game with original gameplay! Something not seen since the says of the Simpson Arcade game - still one of the best arcade side-scrollers to date!
Simpsons Arcade was a flat out ripoff of the Ninja Turtles arcade game.
Post by: D-Mac Double on December 06, 2003, 07:20:49 PM
Post by: KDR_11k on December 06, 2003, 09:24:16 PM
SEGA can sue Rockstar for patent infringement as well. Maybe they are just too afraid that Rockstar pays off the judge to invalidate SEGA's patent.
Post by: Robageejammin on December 08, 2003, 07:37:10 AM
Post by: thecubedcanuck on December 08, 2003, 07:53:40 AM
Man I wish SEGA would go the way of its consoles.
Post by: Ian Sane on December 08, 2003, 08:04:25 AM
If there is a game though that I could consider an infringment of patent Simpsons Road Rage is it. That game is essentially exactly the same as Crazy Taxi. Maybe I should nab a copy in case this lawsuit results in it being pulled off the shelf. That would make for a rare game.
I remember years ago Data East got into sh!t because their game Fighter's History was too similar to Street Fighter II. Anyone know what the courts decided in that case?
Post by: Bill Aurion on December 08, 2003, 08:17:12 AM
Post by: Neo_James on December 08, 2003, 11:21:22 AM
Sega has been really sucking ass lately, they have been slipping since the post Dreamcast days and they have been in major money troubles since then. I mean, Road Rage came out two years ago, WTF took them so long to sue EA?? That's sad Sega, really sad. You can't steal on idea of a game style unless they directly copy it, maybe if they called it Simpons Crazy Taxi, I see something in that, but come on, really!!
Why don't you get off your ass and start making GOOD games again and maybe you won't have to sue everyone to get some green backs ok??
Post by: Ian Sane on December 08, 2003, 11:38:17 AM
I do agree that if Sega wasn't in a "make stupid choices like supporting the N-Gage" groove they wouldn't have bothered to sue. It's a shame to see them in the situation they are.
Post by: ThePerm on December 08, 2003, 11:50:07 AM
Fri-val-ous
Post by: UniversalJuan on December 08, 2003, 07:13:04 PM
Post by: KDR_11k on December 09, 2003, 06:29:25 AM
Why did Sega wait so long with suing? Well, why did SCO wait so long to sue IBM over Linux?
I have no idea when exactly the patent was granted (a search in the USPTO database is like searching google, however I now know Sega patented cooling systems for game systems...) so that might play a role as well.
Ian: You better BE scared, software and logic patents allow for a LOT of abuse. The EFF and FSF will provide you with further information.
