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26 January 2018Copyright

Atari case against KitKat bars dismissed

A copyright claim filed by gaming company Atari against Swiss food company Nestlé has  been dismissed.

WIPR reported in August 2017 that Atari filed the complaint at the US District Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco Division.

Nestlé was accused of infringing elements of a copyright owned by Atari to advertise its KitKat chocolate bar.

It was alleged that Atari’s 1975 game “Breakout” was copied to market the chocolate bar. The premise of the game is to hit bricks with a moving ball using a small panel. If the player fails to reach the ball in time, then it’s game over.

In the advertisement, Nestlé allegedly replaced the bricks with KitKat bars and invited customers to “Breakout” and buy more chocolate bars.

The initial suit read: “Forty years later Nestlé decided that it would, without Atari’s authorisation, leverage ‘Breakout’ and the special place it holds among nostalgic Baby Boomers, Generation X, and even today’s Millennial and post-Millennial ‘gamers’ in order to maximise the reach of worldwide, multi-platform advertisements for Nestlé KitKat bars.”

Atari sought injunctive relief, triple damages, profits, costs, further relief and a jury trial.

However, on Monday, January 22, Atari filed a notice of dismissal with prejudice at the Northern District of California, which two days later dismissed the case with prejudice.

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