Madden 12 News Post

UPDATE: Madden Creator Suing Electronic Arts, EA Responds Claim Utterly Without Merit

05:34 PM - April 1, 2011 by Steve_OS

According to multiple sources Robin Antonick, developer of the first Madden title in 1988 for MS-DOS, Commodore, and Apple II platforms, claims EA owes him some kickback. Actually, he's looking for a LOT of kickback.

UPDATE: 1up received at statement from EA.

Quote:


	"EA has issued a statement to 1UP on the lawsuit. Tiffany Steckler said, "The complaint and its 20 year-old claim are utterly without merit."

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Member Comments

# 1 Jarodd21 @ 04/01/11 05:39 PM

Pay that man EA! haha!

# 2 LDUBBS28 @ 04/01/11 06:05 PM

Word up, ante up that money EA!!!!

# 3 TDKing @ 04/01/11 06:27 PM

Another lirpA slooF ekoJ hahaha...

# 4 iva-chargers-fan @ 04/01/11 07:55 PM

April Fools!!!

# 5 turftickler @ 04/01/11 08:00 PM

It's legit. Apparently, EA Sports/Madden dev team has been using his programming technology since he left the game. Not a cool idea in the programming world. As a programmer myself, when I signed the application, I saw and was told that any software applications I developed while on the clock, is company property.

# 6 Mo @ 04/01/11 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iva-chargers-fan


	April Fools!!!

Nope, it's a real lawsuit

# 7 turftickler @ 04/01/11 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iva-chargers-fan


	April Fools!!!

Just check the link in the paragraph under the Madden NFL pic.

# 8 Steve_OS @ 04/01/11 09:15 PM

Updated OP.

EA has issued a statement to 1UP on the lawsuit. Tiffany Steckler said, "The complaint and its 20 year-old claim are utterly without merit.

# 9 Exonerated @ 04/02/11 03:27 AM

Probably weren't that many copyright/intellectual property laws back in 1985.

# 10 roadman @ 04/02/11 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Exonerated


	Probably weren't that many copyright/intellectual property laws back in 1985.

That is what I'm thinking. That is when dialing up on a modem and using punch cards were the shiz.

Much ado about nothing.

# 11 turftickler @ 04/02/11 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Exonerated


	Probably weren't that many copyright/intellectual property laws back in 1985.

Property is still property. If he is the owner/founder of the technology and he didn't sign over the rights to it, the tech still belongs to him. The man needs to get paid.

# 12 CM Hooe @ 04/02/11 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by turftickler


	Property is still property. If he is the owner/founder of the technology and he didn't sign over the rights to it, the tech still belongs to him. The man needs to get paid.

Who's to say that anything this guy wrote still exists in the Madden code base? I find this lawsuit somewhat ridiculous, though my opinion obviously isn't the one that will count at the end.

# 13 roadman @ 04/02/11 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by turftickler


	Property is still property. If he is the owner/founder of the technology and he didn't sign over the rights to it, the tech still belongs to him. The man needs to get paid.

I'm sure you would love to see that happen, but the royalty payments stopped in 1992. So, 20 yrs later he's comes to the conclusion that he is owed more royalty. Sorry, I don't buy that.

If I thought I was owed money, I wouldn't wait 20 yrs and try to take it to court. I'd be screaming up and down from day 1.

# 14 spacefunk @ 04/02/11 07:00 PM

Maybe he was such a nerd that he totally forgot about Madden til last week. Not hatin, just saying.

# 15 roadman @ 04/02/11 11:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spacefunk


	Maybe he was such a nerd that he totally forgot about Madden til last week. Not hatin, just saying.

I hear you, but I wouldn't forget royalty checks that keep coming in and then all of a sudden stop.

# 16 Exonerated @ 04/02/11 11:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by turftickler


	Property is still property. If he is the owner/founder of the technology and he didn't sign over the rights to it, the tech still belongs to him. The man needs to get paid.

Intellectual property is a very recent phenomena. It may seem obvious that it is property now, but not in 1985.

# 17 hyacinth1 @ 04/03/11 05:17 AM

I think were all missing the point of this. Guy is claiming EA has been using his 1988 code in the current generation games!!!! If that is true it wouldn't surprise me one bit.

# 18 Exonerated @ 04/03/11 06:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hyacinth1


	I think were all missing the point of this. Guy is claiming EA has been using his 1988 code in the current generation games!!!! If that is true it wouldn't surprise me one bit.

code that has transcended 4 platforms???

# 19 TheDelta @ 04/03/11 06:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hyacinth1


	Guy is claiming EA has been using his 1988 code in the current generation games!!!!

No he isn't. He claims that the current software is "derived" from the work he did in '88. Since something like this would be awfully hard to prove if it was just a year and one cycle removed from the original, much less over 20 years, cycles and at least 4 platforms, this lawsuit really has no merit and EA won't pay him one dollar.

# 20 roadman @ 04/03/11 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheDelta


	No he isn't. He claims that the current software is "derived" from the work he did in '88. Since something like this would be awfully hard to prove if it was just a year and one cycle removed from the original, much less over 20 years, cycles and at least 4 platforms, this lawsuit really has no merit and EA won't pay him one dollar.

Thank you, you said it much better than I did.

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UPDATE: Madden Creator Suing Electronic Arts, EA Responds Claim Utterly Without Merit