Level-5 says it hasn’t violated SEGA’s patents, will fight back in court
SEGA has initiated a lawsuit against Level-5. The company feels that Level-5’s Inazuma Eleven games relating to touch interface controls.
After investigating the matter, Level-5 has said that “Inazuma Eleven does not violate SEGA’s patents.”
SEGA believes that the touch interface in the Inazuma Eleven games, which allows users to move characters with the touch pen and stylus, is in violation of two of its patents. But Level-5 argues that the first Inazuma Eleven – released in August 2008 – came out before SEGA received its first patent in 2009. SEGA obtained a second patent in 2011. Level-5 will be taking the position that titles with touch pen controls were made before SEGA filed its patents.
Level-5 said:
“As a result of examining these discrepancies, we’ve concluded that there is no patent violation. While Inazuma Eleven does not violate Sega’s patent, we do recognize that Sega’s lawsuit could restrict choices in gaming from here on out as well as hindering the growth of the game industry.”
Level-5 added that the lawsuit makes the company “uncomfortable”. It plans to fight the lawsuit in court.
