Atari 2600 Futurama pulled

Hey gang,

Well, I got a letter from Fox TV threatening legal action for the Futurama for the Atari 2600 video game I was going to produce for the CCAG meeting. There has been some speculation as to whether this letter is legit or not. Doesn't matter. I'm pulling the game and it will not be produced. I am working on a replacement game that will instead be released at CCAG. Thanks for those of you who voiced excitement and encouragment and sorry to disappoint those who were looking forward to this.

One about oversensitive Fox legal folk, perchance?

On Thu, 2 May 2002 07:45:55 -0400, "Matt Drury" wrote:

No why pick on Fox's fine legal team? There are plenty of good ideas for games. How about this:

A horrible creature which has no heart nor any sense of creativity which lives by sucking the lifeblood of those who do. Their purpose in life will be to shoot down anything creative, except the 'host creatures' on whom they feed.

Oh wait, that does sound like Fox's legal team.

--Larry

I never saw the pics, so I can't say much, but the graphics on most 2600 games weren't so good. You had to practically imagine that mass of pixels was Indiana Jones or whatever. (Kinda like constellations!) I son't think 2600 graphics could portray a likeness of Futurama characters or vehicles so similar that FOX could sue.

I think as long as the title & characters' names don't appear, it would be OK.

If it was released online for emulators (for free) and not sold, then there's really nothing they can do.

"Tim Snider" schrieb

Now you know the true meaning of "foxing".

"Tim Snider" wrote in message news:[email]...

Exuse my language- what A-holes! It's not like they are doing anything with it for, oh say, the next few MONTHS?!?!

Screw 'em. Just don't call it "Futurama" and you should be OK.

Fox swiped the name "Futurama" - what goes around, comes around.

"Gyumaoh" wrote in message news:[email]...

On Sat, 04 May 2002 00:12:42 GMT, "dnb" wrote:

When the Marx Brothers released their movie "A Night in Casablanca" they were threatened with a lawsuit. Warner Brothers felt that the name was too close to their own movie Casablanca.

Groucho replied with a threat to counter sue, noting that they had used the word 'brothers' first and insisted that Warner Brothers would have to change their name.

The movie was released and Warner Brothers never bothered to file suit. Since Casablanca was the name of a real city long before either of them existed, they probably would have lost anyway.

If someone released a game called 'Futurama' based on the World's Fair exhibit, or the song of the same name. Fox would not be able to do much about it. Especially if nothing in the game resembled their show.

--Larry

I forgot about that story - sooo funny:

"Larry" wrote in message news:[email]...

Well yes and no.

I wrote an article on this earlier this year that goes into that:

http://www.avault.com/developer/getarticle.asp?name=bwardell8

In short: The law extends as far as your lawyers want to take it and that you can afford.

Brad

On Sun, 05 May 2002 23:49:23 GMT, "Brad Wardell" wrote:

Excellent article. I won't discuss it here in detail, but I do recommend reading it.

I remember the case of the company that wrote and released "Internet Explorer". Microsoft's primary arguments was that the name was too generic to copyright. I wonder if they would feel the same way about another operating system with a generic name like 'Windows'.

One way around the copyright BS for a hacked game is to release it through use net with an assumed name. It's a shame that the author can't take credit for their had work, but at least there's the knowledge that is get out.

I have seen dozen's of versions of Super Mario Brothers based on other games, comic books and other game systems. Some of them are very cool.

--Larry

Microsoft is suing a company called Lindows, in fact. www.lindows.com

"Larry" wrote in message news:[email]...

The first judge to hear the case said he thought that "windows" was too generic to copyright anyway, so at this point it looks like Lindows will wn the case, but that could still change.

On Tue, 07 May 2002 05:22:25 GMT, Larry spewed forth:

heh. They recently (sometime in the last 6 months anyway) sued the makers of a Linux distribution called 'Lindows', so I guess we know now.

Mmm...The Great Giana Sisters anyone?

The future was the topic of the 1939 World's Fair, even more so than most. Norman Bel Geddes designed a Futurama ride for General Motors, putting the user in chairs that moved across a model of an idealized United States. From one coast to another you flew across cities of the future, with cars on spacious roads and pedestrians on elevated walkways.

In article , "dnb" wrote: