Tuesday, March 13, 2007

RollerCoaster Tycoon Lawsuit Headed to the House of Lords

Atari, creator of the popular RollerCoaster Tycoon franchise is being sued by former employee Chris Sawyer over the nonpayment of Royalties he claims amount to about $4.8 million. According to Lord Justice Chadwick, "This is one of those unusual cases in which a claim which the court considers has no real prospect of success (as the law stands) should, nevertheless, be permitted to go trial." Sorry Chris, looks like you lose. The Court wants to handle the issue of Atari's counterclaim which involves Sawyer breaching his contract by allowing Frontier, another developer, to create a demo for the franchise, inducing them to breach their contractual obligations to Atari.

See you in the House of Lords Buddy!

If the courts follow precedent, Atari will lose on its inducement counterclaim. The House of Lords is considering these inducement claim in two other pending cases; all will have to wait and see.

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