Konami Sues Roxor

Konami Sues Roxor

Earlier this month Konami Corporation (Konami) filed a complaint against Roxor Games, Inc., Austin, TX., with the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, asking the court to grant an injunction and damages against Roxor's "In The Groove" dance simulation game(pictured Left). The complaint is based upon that game's and Roxor's infringement of Konami's patent and trademark rights in its Dance Dance Revolution® (known as the Dancing Stage® series of games in European markets) arcade game, as well as upon unfair competition law.

Dance Dance Revolution® ("DDR") is a dance simulation game in which game players are evaluated based on their success in dancing in time with music of their own selection. Their movements consist of stepping on foot panels in time with graphical and musical queues from the DDR game. DDR was launched in Japan in October 1998 and thereafter became a worldwide success. With its launch, DDR actually created the entire category of dance simulation arcade games. The home-version DDR game has also become an international success.

A Konami spokeman also commented that Roxor Game's refitting of DDR arcade games has been done in an infringing and unfair way. He went on to say that Konami will continue to take any legal measures necessary to protect Konami's intellectual property rights in DDR and other Konami products.