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>Simply stating that "this game copied our idea!" is all well and good; but in a court of law, the case has to be proven beyond any reasonable doubt. In common
by Amorymeltzer 7y ago
>Simply stating that "this game copied our idea!" is all well and good; but in a court of law, the case has to be proven beyond any reasonable doubt.
In common law systems such as the US and Canada, "beyond a reasonable doubt" is generally the metric used for criminal law. Civil cases, such as this, generally use preponderance of evidence; it's a much weaker standard, essentially meaning that whichever side is more than 50% supported by the evidence will win.
Doesn't take away from the interest in this code trap, but Atari did have a lower bar for success.
- geofft 7y agoWouldn't this have been criminal copyright infringement, since it was for commercial gain and impacting the commercial prospects of Atari?
- Amorymeltzer 7y agoIANAL (or an expert on Canadian IP law) but while it perhaps could have been as well, it's pretty clear from TFA that this was a civil lawsuit. Use of the term "lawsuit" and "plaintiff" (the latter in the only actual document provided[1]) are dead giveaways, as is the fact that the government (who prosecutes criminal cases) does not appear to be involved. 1: https://missilecommand.files.wordpress.com/2018/12/ilovepdf_merged.pdf https://missilecommand.files.wordpress.com/2018/12/ilovepdf_...