Atari's legal threats prompt Apple to pull some games from iOS App Store
Legal pressure from Atari has caused some titles to be removed by Apple from the App Store, including "Vector Tanks" by Black Powder Media, gamesindustry.biz reported on Tuesday (via The Loop). The developer issued a statement saying that anything with a "passing resemblance to an Atari classic has been issued a copyright infringement claim."
The developer asserts that Atari has a "special relationship" with Apple, which has led to applications being pulled without a chance for rebuttal or further evaluation. Black Power Media's "Vector Tanks" is a wireframe 3D game that resembles Atari's "Battlezone."
The developer even claims they previously attempted to contact Atari to license their intellectual property for "Vector Tanks," but they could not be reached. He said the company seems "to have fallen off the planet."
An official Kickstarter page that was originally seeking funding to create a "Vector Tanks 3" states that Atari's legal pressure has affected "hundreds of apps" available for the iPhone and iPad. However, there's no indication how many other applications have been affected or pulled from the App Store because of Atari's approach.
The third installment of the tank game will now be redesigned with faster vehicles and air-based attackers to avoid Atari's claims of intellectual property infringement, and will have the name "The Visceral Adventures of Vic Vector."
"Spurred by the competition and their heavy tactics, we're making our game that much better, and Vic Vector's universe that much sleeker and cooler," the developer said.
30 Comments
nice to see Atari still loves to sue everyone and everything they can.
Shame Atari just doesn't get all those games ported and bank a few more $$$ as the income stream obviously dried many years ago for these. There is great interest in retro gaming so why not cash in...
Tom
1. Atari doesn't need a special relationship to get Apple to pull over IP. Apple will CYA over anyone saying that someone was stolen. Keeps them out of the lawsuits etc. SAme as youtube pulling a potentially infringing upload.
2. This developer says they tried to contact Atari essentially admitting that they knew they were dealing with someone else's IP. Atari refused to play because they didn't want to which doesn't negate their ownership and give someone else a blanket permission to infringe.
Summary, these guys have no room to say squat. They played with fire and they were burned. Time to actually create something and leave Atari's IP for them to port or not as they wish.
i predict these guys will run to the blogs and in a few days we'll see some stories about evil apple running companies out of business
Spend your money creating something and then when everybody steals it, see how you feel.
nice to see Atari still loves to sue everyone and everything they can.