"Scratch DJ" Game Developers Win Ruling Against Activision

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 21, 2009 - 8:55am.

Santa Monica, Calif. - The developers of a competing hip-hop DJ music video game have won a temporary restraining order against game publisher Activision (NASD: ATVI), which was ordered by a court to turn over source code related to the video game "Scratch: The Ultimate DJ."

Scratch DJ Games LLC, a joint venture between Genius Products and audio equipment maker Numark, sued Activision and developer 7 Studios last week, alleging that Activision broke a non-disclosure and confidentiality agreement with Genius in its dealings with 7 Studios.

The suit also alleges that Activision and 7 "began conspiring to prevent Scratch from getting to market on a timely basis by withholding work product, code and the proprietary game controller."

Activision is currently preparing its own similar game, "DJ Hero."

Last Wednesday, the court ordered Activision and 7 to turn over all code related to "Scratch: The Ultimate DJ" to Scratch, and ordered Activision to cease discussions of Scratch or its game code with 7 Studios.

Scratch DJ Game LLC said it will continue to pursue its court case seeking damages from Activision and 7 resulting from their alleged actions to delay and take over the Scratch game.

http://snipurl.com/gdyg8 (LA Times)

http://snipurl.com/gdyf7 (DMW previous coverage)