Genius Products Sues Activision
Genius Products, the company behind Scratch: Ultimate DJ, has filed a lawsuit against Activision and 7 Studios. Activision is working on its own DJ game and is in direct competition with Genius Products after first attempting to purchase the game. Genius claims that “Activision and 7 Studios have conspired to withhold the current version of Scratch in an effort to delay the development and release of Scratch and to gain access to proprietary technology.”
So, What does all this mean? Allegedly, after Activision had offered to buy Scratch and were turned down, they bought the company Genius had contracted to develop their game, 7 Studios. At that point, Activision and 7 Studios conspired to delay the release of Scratch.
The lawsuit states that “Activision has engaged in intentional interference with contract, breach of contract, conversion and misappropriation of trade secrets obtained from Genius to purchase 7 Studios.” The suit is seeking damages, the games immediate return and “other injunctive relief.” If the claims turn out to be true, which is a big “if,” why does Activision feel the need to delay the competition?
Read the rest of this entry »
Brash Sued by Two Development Studios
While the fat lady may have sung on Brash Entertainment, that doesn’t meant there’s not still plenty of fallout. The company is currently being sued by not one, but two game developers in Los Angeles Superior Court over alleged nonpayment.
The first lawsuit, filed back on October 30th by California-based 7 Studios claims Brash failed to pay it $581,000 for its work on two video games, Six Flags Fun Park and 9. 9 was to based on an upcoming animated feature film by director Tim Burton. Meanwhile, Six Flags Fun Park, for the Nintendo Wii and DS, was nearly complete when Brash decided to exercise a clause in its contract and cancel the game without cause in early October.
The second lawsuit, filed by Slovenian game developer Zootfly on Friday, alleges that Brash owes it $748,000 for work done on a video game adaptation of the Fox television show, “Prison Break.” Brash gave that game the axe at the end of September.
Brash (or what’s left of it at least) has been silent about recent issues. There’s been no response to inquiries about the status of its lingering licenses, and no comment made about these recent lawsuits.
