A federal judge from the Northern District of California has overturned a multi-million dollar jury award against videogame publisher Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) in a copyright infringement case.
The award — more than $3 million in damages plus interest that could have exceeded $7 million — was made after a California jury concluded last year that EA breached a 1986 software development contract it had with a developer, Robin Antonick.
Specifically, the jury found that the expression in the source code of plays and formations from EA’s John Madden Football videogames for Sega developed between 1990 and 1996 was substantially similar to the expression in the source code of Antonick’s original Madden videogame for the Apple II computer. The jury also found that Antonick proved the same videogames were virtually identical to his when considered as a whole. During an earlier phase of trial, the jury found that Antonick’s lawsuit was timely because prior to November 21, 2005, Antonick “did not discover and did not know of facts that would have caused a reasonable person to suspect that Electronic Arts had breached its contract … or made fraudulent statements.”
The appeals court concluded that there was no evidence suggesting that Antonick’s work had been copied by EA Sports in later versions of the popular video game franchise.
“Without the opportunity to view each of the versions [of the later games], the jury had no basis for evaluating whether the changes [the expert] addressed altered each subsequent game,” the court noted. “[Therefore there was] no evidence from which a reasonable juror could conclude that [the games] are virtually identical when compared as a whole.”
“We are thrilled to see the claims resolved in favor of EA,” Keker & Van Nest partner Susan Harriman said in a statement. “It was the right result. As Judge Breyer held, there is no evidence that any of the Sega Madden games are virtually identical to the Apple II game that Robin Antonick programmed. The evidence also proved that EA’s source code was not substantially similar to Antonick’s source work. As EA has maintained from day one, Antonick was fully compensated for his work on the Apple II game. Because Antonick had no involvement in the Sega Madden games, he had no entitlement to further royalties.”
Antonick v. Electronic Arts Inc.; N.D. Cal.; No. C 11-1543 CRB; 1/22/14
