News: Aruze loses appeal against SNKP

May 03, 2007, 05:23 PM

by brandon, via Aruze -
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Aruze has been trying to sue SNK ever since the company got out from under their thumb. As you may recall, Aruze took over what was SNK at the time, but was unable to turn the company around, and it went bankrupt. Aruze was primarily interested in using SNK's IP for pachislot machines, and mucked up the whole business (or just didn't save it, whichever).

When the SNK branch went bankrupt, SNK's ex-boss eikichi kawasaki formed Playmore, and re-purchased all the rights to SNK's games, then proceeded to sue Aruze, who continued using the IP in their pachinko slot games without permission. Judgement was awarded to Playmore, and Aruze filed a counter-suit, saying that SNKP's own pachinko games, since SNKP did wind up entering that business on their own (as a bit of a fuck you to Aruze, clearly), were in violation of a general patent that Aruze had on certain types of sounds used in pachislot games. Today it was announced that Aruze's suit and appeal were denied, and SNK is the victor once again. Can we expect yakuza riots in osaka tonight?