Supreme Court punts on Madden football game case

Without comment, the United States Supreme Court on Monday declined an appeal from the programmer who wrote the original John Madden computer football game to get more royalties for his work.

Programmer Robin Antonick wrote the code for the old-school Apple II version of John Madden Football in 1988 for Electronic Arts Inc. Electronic Arts then developed versions of Madden Football for other computer-based systems, including versions for Sega and Nintendo that didn’t employ Antonick as a programmer.

Antonick claimed his agreement with Electronic Arts entitled him to royalties from derivative works, such as the Sega and Nintendo products. Electronic Arts didn’t agree with Antonick, stating those versions of Madden Football would be developed independently.

Antonick then sued in federal court in California in 2011. A jury in a California federal court found that a statute of limitations didn’t keep Antonick from pursuing his royalties and the Sega game used parts of Antonick’s work, allowing him to collect the royalties. The jury awarded Antonick $3.6 million in damages.

But Electronic Arts won its later appeals in the federal legal system when the judges found that the actual code in dispute had not been entered into evidence and Electronic Arts could use Antonick’s approach to programming the game.

Justice Stephen Breyer took no part in the Supreme Court’s decision.