Midway Sues Ericsson Over Defender 'Tribute'

An anonymous reader writes "Redkeyreddoor is relaying a story, via the Wall Street Journal, that Midway has sued Ericsson for distributing a completely unlicensed version of Defender on its T68 cellphone. The mobile game in question seems to be 'Game', which does bear a remarkable similarity to Defender (there's a screenshot at this Japanese cellphone review page). Ericsson has apparently removed 'Game' (and a version of Tetris, ingeniously called 'Tetris') from later versions of the T68."

Wow.

[Asprin]

Defender was hard enough with a joystick and five buttons spread out over a wide two-hand console. I can't imagine playing it on my cell phone with a keyboard the size of a mini-post-it note (and my big fat tree-trunk thumbs) would be even remotely entertaining.

If they were gonna steal a game, they shoulda done some research first. Something like Galaxian or Galaga would have been a better fit.

Re:Wow.

[Anonymous Coward]

There was a stripped-down version of Defender on the Atari 2600. Naturally, it only uses one button, so it's entirely possible to play a similar game on a phone.

Re:Wow.

[DLWormwood]

Naturally, it only uses one button

I think the original poster forgot that Defender's joystick was only two-way. This reduced the number of switches needed to implement the game's interface. A more standard joystick could simply be mapped to the two-way joystick, with the off-axis substituting for the Reverse and Thrust buttons. (I personally think the 2600 joystick was more natural than the arcade's requirement of a reversal toggle.)

Re:Wow.

[curtisk]

you make a great point, but I have a Defender LCD "keychain" style game that plays just fine with a tiny directional pad and 4 tiny buttons, the whole game is only about 3" long by 1" wide, yeah the gameplay isn't quite the same as the arcade, but its still close enough

I love the hyperbolic damages.

[jeblucas]

You can't file a suit unless you really go for th gusto. Here's what Midway wants:

It requested that the court award it damages and reimbursement of its legal fees and require Sony Ericsson to turn over all mobile phones, software, and other materials in its possession related to the alleged copyright violation.

Hell yeah!

"You have a shitty Defender clone on your phones. OMFGWTFLOL GIVE ME ALL YOUR PHONES!!!111!onehundredandeleven!"

Why sue for an apology or some licensing ducats, when you can sue for the whole frigging world and settle for and apology and some licensing ducats.

Haven't they heard of Epyx Vs. Data East?

[lightspawn]

Gamespy's dumbest moments in gaming [gamespy.com]

Although since the game was removed I guess it might have been the smart thing to do from Midway's perspective.

But using the actual "Tetris" trademark was just plain stupid.

Re:Haven't they heard of Epyx Vs. Data East?

[ronfar]

Well, perhaps the case they are thinking of is K. C. Munchkin [gamespy.com], which was a travesty of justice, paricularly considering the fact that Atari's Pac-Man game seemed like it was designed to make children cry.

On what grounds?

[Anonymous Coward]

Defender was released 24 years ago. Is this a copyright case? I doubt they actually took any actual code from Defender.

Even if they did, copyright's whole purpose is to promote growth of the public domain - is anybody arguing that Williams Electronics, the creator of Defender, would not have created it if they weren't guaranteed an artificial monopoly for over two decades? Why are copyrights on computer software so ridiculously long anyway?

Re:On what grounds?

[incompetent_bitch]

Because computer sofware falls under "Literary works" for purposes of Copyright law, and thus garners the full copyright protection, namely life of creator plus 70 years. And before you get up in arms about the length and claim that the US laws are unduly protective of copyright holders and how it only serves to protect big business (points I'm not making nor discussing), keep in mind that one of the main reasons the US changed to life +70 was to keep in step with the Bern Convention.

Re:On what grounds?

[Synonymous Yellowbel]

one of the main reasons the US changed to life +70 was to keep in step with the Bern Convention.

That's how politicians get stuff like this through without being voted out of office - progressively strengthen local laws by synchronizing "upwards" with foreign laws, through FTAs and treaties like the Bern Convention. Then the US introduces the DMCA, and the EU "synchronizes" with the US... rinse, repeat.

steve

Re:On what grounds?

[sjwt]

That is what copyright orignaly was,

What you are describing is closer to how patants work.

allthough copyright was 25 years(or was it 50) years untill a certan mouse nearly went into the
public domain.

Now its life +99 years, or is it just the 99 years.

I cant ofllow all the changes these days,
they lobbly in some new scam ever few yeras.

Been around a while..

[tolan-b]

'Game' and Tetris have been on Ericsson phones for a while, they were first released on the T29. I was chuffed, defender is one of my favourite classic arcade games..

Anyone else roll Defender back in the day?

[qloops]

One of my proudest video game moments was rolling the score on Defender (rolled at 1,000,000 as I recall). Many a roll of quarters went into practising this game while skipping out of high-school. It was a hard game to master but definately one of the most adrenaline charged ever.

Re:Anyone else roll Defender back in the day?

[qloops]

Don't you have anything better to do than check Slashdot posts for typos?

I must have a new one...

[VisorGuy]

because I don't have those games on my T68.

That's rather surprising to me because I bought the phone off of eBay and it's pretty beat up outside; paint coming off, scratches, etc.

Still works quite well tho... Just looks fugly. Hopefully ugly enough that nobody will steal it. ;)

As Ericsson would say...(oblig Tenacious D quote)

[PTBNL]

This is just a tribute!
You gotta believe me!
And I wish you were there!
Just a matter of opinion.

Re:Old Ericsson phones had Tetris, too

[Stormwatch]

It that one like this [klov.com]?