10 Most Absurd Lawsuits In Video Game History
1. Nintendo Vs. Blockbuster
The case: Unable to achieve its original goal of eliminating video game rentals Stateside due to U.S. copyright law, Nintendo, unsatisfied, decided to take a petty jab at the rental market's biggest player, Blockbuster Video, over a harmless act.
As a means of replacing old, worn out copies of game manuals, Blockbuster would make photocopies, a practice that it would soon learn, thanks to Nintendo's probing, was illegal. Blockbuster had the law on its side as far as rentals were concerned but copying intellectual property? That was a big no-no, even if the content in question was nothing but a series of arbitrary instructions.
The outcome: Rather than run the risk of racking up huge legal fees, the case was eventually settled out of court in Nintendo's favour, but it was nothing more than a token victory. The Big N had stopped Blockbuster from photocopying its manuals, but rentals continued to flourish.
At least until digital media came along a decade later and achieved Nintendo's ultimate goal for it.