Data East USA, Inc. v. Epyx, Inc. 862 F.2d 204, 9 U.S.P.Q.2d (BNA) 1322 (9th Cir. 1988) is a court case in which Data East, a video game manufacturer, contended that Epyx, a competing video game manufacturer, licensed and distributed a video game, International Karate, that infringed on the copyright of a video game developed by Data East, Karate Champ. After a district court sided with Data East, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth ...
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Data East USA, Inc. v. Epyx, Inc. 862 F.2d 204, 9 U.S.P.Q.2d (BNA) 1322 (9th Cir. 1988) is a court case in which Data East, a video game manufacturer, contended that Epyx, a competing video game manufacturer, licensed and distributed a video game, International Karate, that infringed on the copyright of a video game developed by Data East, Karate Champ. After a district court sided with Data East, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit court on appeal reversed the decision of copyright infringement. This judgment was based on the lack of "substantial similarity" between the games, because the identified similarities were inherent to all karate video games.
Data East, a video game company, released the "Karate Champ" video game in late 1984. It was first released as a coin-operated arcade game, and subsequently in October 1985 as a home computer game. Epyx, another video game company, licensed and distributed a competing and similar home computer video game "World...
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