A federal court overturned the original "Madden" developer's legal victory against EA over copyright-infringement and will be granted a new trial.
According to Polygon, Robin Antonick worked with EA founder Trip Hawkins and John Madden to create the first football simulator. The lawsuit Antonick filed against EA in 2011 claimed the company violated their contract by not giving him royalties associated with future "Madden" titles that used his work.
The lawyers representing EA released the following statement to Polygon:
"We are thrilled to see the claims resolved in favor of EA. 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 code. 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."
Judge Charles Breyer of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued a ruling on Jan. 22 overturning the court's verdict.
"There is no legally sufficient basis for the jury's verdict that any of the Sega Madden games as a whole are virtually identical to Apple II Madden as a whole," Breyer wrote in his verdict, according to Polygon.
The court ruled in favor of Antonick back in July, whose lawyers reportedly claim they have grounds to appeal the federal ruling and plan to strike back.
"Had the jury's verdict stood, EA could have owed Antonick more than $11 million in damages and unpaid royalties - as well as, Antonick's attorneys argued, royalties from post-Genesis Madden games, EA's total revenue for which is more than $3 billion," Polygon reports.
You can check out the documents from Antonick's court ruling here.
