Chris Sawyer sues Atari.

[FlyingScooter]

Roller Coaster Tycoon lawsuit goes to UK High Court

Mark Raby

March 13, 2007 10:17

 

 

London (England) - Chris Sawyer, the developer of the PC hit series Roller Coaster Tycoon, has sued the game's publisher Atari, alleging that it skimped out on paying royalties and other fees totaling millions of dollars.

 

Though it sounds like an easy court decision, Atari's counter-claim has stalled the process. Atari's claims open up new legal questions in the UK that have pushed the case to the House of Lords, which is essentially the UK version of the US Supreme Court.

 

 

In total, says Sawyer, Atari owes him $4.8 million because he was underpaid between 1999 and 2001. He alleges that for those three years, Atari would not allow him or third-party auditors to access its accounts.

 

Atari's defense is that Sawyer commissioned development company Frontier to create a game demo for Roller Coast Tycoon, which induced copyright infringement and severed any responsibility for Atari to pay Sawyer.

 

The "law of inducement" is different in the UK than it is in the US, and because of the precedents Atari would legally have little chance at success. However, the House of Lords has the power to change the law, which could give Sawyer a victory.

[thefitness]

Whoa,I wonder why this didn't happen sooner.I kinda hope Chris Sawyer wins,When he owned RCT it was much better.

 

^btw I like your signature.Charlie and the Unicorns is the best!"Candy Mountain Charlie!"

[Golfie]

Good for him! Maybe this will lead to some good Roller Coaster Tycoon games in the future... like the original RCT.

[Calaway Park]

Sweet, now it won't cost about 2000 dollars to play the game - 1500 for the computer, 400 for a high end graphics card, and 100 for the game and both expansions.

[RollerC]

This is old news. It happened sometime last year and was posted on the Atari Forums.