BILLW@SRI-AI.ARPA (11/23/83)
From: William "Chops" Westfield <BILLW@SRI-AI.ARPA>
a544 23-Nov-83 03:34
BC-ATARI-11-23
By Maurice Possley
(c) 1983 Chicago Sun-Times (Independent Press Service)
CHICGO - A suburban Northbrook company has agreed to temporarily
stop selling a device that makes copies of Atari home video
cartridges until a federal judge decides if the machine is legal.
The machine, called a ''Prom Blaster,'' is capable of making an
exact duplicate of Atari's video cartridges and is viewed by Atari as
a direct threat to ''an investment of hundreds of millions of
dollars,'' according to Atari attorney David Springer.
The case is expected to turn on a legal interpretation of an
exception of the federal copyright law that allows the archival
copying of a computer program in the event of electrical or
mechanical failure.
George Gerstman, attorney for JS & A Group, the Northbrook firm that
is selling the $119 machine, argued Monday before Senior U.S.
District Judge Bernard M. Decker that the machine is similar to a
photocopying machine or a printing press.
''The primary use of the machine is a legal one,'' he argued, noting
that a printing press can be used to counterfeit money and a
photocopying machine can be used for copying that violates copyright
law.
Atari, makers of popular home video game cartridges such as
''Pac-Man'' and ''Centipede,'' moved Friday to stop JS & A from
selling the machine.
The gamemaker filed suit in U.S. District Court against JS & A
charging copyright infringement, contending video games are
copyrighted as audio-visual works and are not covered by the archival
exception.
Springer said that should the device be allowed on the market,
''every Tom, Dick and Harry from Taiwan to Hong Kong is going to be
selling these things.''
In a brief filed with Decker, Springer argued, ''The proliferation
of copying with such devices will virtually destroy Atari's cartridge
sales and the value of Atari's game rights. ... (It) threatens
Atari's most valuable asset, its rights in its video games, at the
most vulnerable time, the Christmas shopping season.''
The device is designed to make copies of the Atari video games for
as much as $15 less than the cost of a new cartridge from Atari. The
company is selling blank cartridges for $20 each and the Atari
cartridges sell for about $35 each.
The company advertises: ''You simply plug in your Atari ...
cartridge in one slot and a blank cartridge in another, press a
button, and three minutes later you've created an exact duplicate.''
JS & A has sold the blasters by mail order, telephone order and over
the counter at its office in Northbrook. Gerstman said the company
has a $12,000 inventory of the machines.
The suit asks for an immediate halt to sales of the blaster, an
accounting and return of all profits from the sale of the device and
$1 million in punitive damages.
JS & A advertisements contend that the copying is legal and suggests
the buyers can make copies for friends and charge them for the
copying service.
Decker said he would rule on Dec. 1 on whether the device is legal.
END
nyt-11-23-83 0627est
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