A jury in the U.S. District Court of Northern California ruled in favor of Robin Antonick, the programmer of the original EA Sports' Madden NFL football video games, awarding him $11-million for royalties that he alleges he was owed by the company. Antonick's victory on Tuesday opens the doors for another phase of the trial regarding games published after 1996. Those games, thanks to the massive growth of advanced video game technologies, have significantly higher revenues and the potential for even greater damages. According to the Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro law firm, the case alleges that EA and Antonick signed a series of publishing and development contracts, culminating in a 1986 agreement that requires EA to pay him royalties on any derivative works related to the original version of EA Sports' Madden game, including current annual releases, and prohibits EA from using his confidential information. The lawsuit claimed that EA failed to pay millions of dollars in royalties owed to Antonick and to keep his work confidential as required by the contract. Source: Sporting News
