Atari takes swing at Target over ‘Foot Pong’ game
Video games brand Atari has sued US department store Target for infringing IP protecting the famous arcade game “Pong”.
The complaint, filed on December 28, centres on a game called “Foot Pong” that Target has installed in “dozens” of stores nationwide.
According to the complaint, filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California, Los Angeles division, “Pong” is generally considered to be the first commercially successful video game in history.
The 2D tennis-like game, which allows players to use paddles to hit a ball over a dotted line (the net), was released in 1972. The Centre for Computing History, an educational charity, has said that Pong consistently earned four times more revenue than other coin-operated machines after its release.
Atari’s complaint said that Target’s “Foot Pong” is virtually identical in overall look and feel to the original game “Pong”.
“Practically, the only difference between Foot Pong and Pong is that, in the former, players use their feet rather than hands and the game is projected onto the floor rather than through a television or mobile device screen,” it said.
According to Atari, Target knew about the IP rights for “Pong”, particularly as the retailer has been selling authentic, officially licensed Atari shirts, including shirts bearing the ‘Pong’ trademark.
Atari registered the ‘Pong’ mark (US number 2,611,782) in several categories, including computer game programs, with the US Patent and Trademark Office in 2002. The company also owns copyright registrations for various iterations of the game, including its visual elements.
The complaint said that despite Atari sending Target a cease-and-desist letter in relation to “Foot Pong”, a lawyer representing Target explained that the retailer “would not cease and desist, expressly stating that Target would not deviate from its planned use through March 2019”.
According to Atari, the infringement has caused the company to lose potential licence fees from Target and third parties.
The video games company accused Target of trademark infringement and counterfeiting, copyright infringement, false designation of origin, and trademark and trade dress dilution—all wilful—as well as breaching unfair competition common law. It wants triple damages and the infringing goods to be destroyed, among other forms of relief.
The complaint comes one year after a copyright claim filed by Atari against Swiss food company Nestlé was dismissed. Atari had alleged that Nestlé had copied elements of its 1975 game “Breakout” in the marketing of the KitKat chocolate bar.
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