RIM Wins Copyright Skirmish with Atari

RIM and Atari have been squabbling over two Blackberry games ("BrickBreaker" and "Meteor Crusher"). Atari thinks these games infringe its copyright in "Breakout" and "Asteroids", and has indicated that it may sue RIM for infringement.

RIM pre-emptively started an action in Ontario, seeking a declaration that its games did not infringe Atari's copyright in its games. Atari, in turn, brought a motion to dismiss RIM's claim. Atari's main argument was that RIM had no reasonable cause of action, because the Canadian Copyright Act does not specifically allow declarations of the sort RIM wants.

Atari's motion was dismissed in mid-August. The motions judge found that the Copyright Act does not specifically prohibit declarations of non-infringement, and therefore that such declarations were within the court's inherent jurisdiction. It didn't hurt that the Supreme Court of Canada granted just such a declaration in one of its recent copyright decisions.

This decision didn't decide the infringement issue, but it did clarify that the remedy of a declaration of non-infringement is available to RIM. RIM will still have to prove its case.

Decision is Research in Motion Limited v. Atari, Inc.