Friday, November 2, 2007

3D Realms in legal battle over new game

Dallas Business Journal - by Jeff Bounds Staff Writer

In 2009, Garland's 3D Realms Entertainment plans to release a new shoot 'em up video game called "Earth No More." But before that can happen, it will have to clear up a dispute with two Chatworth, Calif., residents who claim they developed a very similar concept back in 2005.

Tre Lovell, a Century City, Calif., attorney representing Edward Polgardy and Darin Scott, says his clients came up with an idea for a video game called "Earth No More," with terraforma and plant life similar to what's in the upcoming 3D Realms' version.

Like 3D Realms' version, Polgardy and Scott's idea featured alien beings who must be defeated by a heroic force, according to Lovell. "Not only the title, but the artwork was very similar," he says, as were promotional and marketing materials.

Lovell says Polgardy and Scott pitched this to a number of video game developers in the '05 time frame, including principals at 3D Realms (who were employed at other companies at the time). Nobody bit. Then, in June of this year, 3D Realms unveiled its development plans for "Earth No More." This fall, Lovell wrote to the company, threatening to sue for alleged copyright and trademark infringement.

3D Realms, under its former name Apogee Software Ltd., instead took the matter to federal district court in Dallas, where it is seeking a judgment that "Earth No More" does not infringe on Polgardy and Scott's trademark rights and copyrights.

In its lawsuit, 3D Realms (www.3drealms.com) says it and its partner in creating the game, Recoil Games, developed the video game "without access to, or use of material created by, the defendants."

In addition to Polgardy and Scott, another defendant in the litigation is Cinemagraphix Entertainment, a Burbank, Calif., firm that the pair supposedly run.

Lovell dismisses the litigation as a "knee-jerk reaction to the demands we sent to them."

Lovell says he has been in contact with 3D Realms' attorney, J. Pat Heptig, of Dallas' Heptig Law Group. "We're trying to work this out," Lovell says. "We're hopefully at the settlement or resolution stage."

Heptig declined to comment.

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jbounds@bizjournals.com | 214-706-7122

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