In-Depth: Exploring Ultracade's Alleged Counterfeit Arcade Game Racket
August 6, 2009 8:00 AM |
[In this in-depth investigation, John D. Andersen looks into claims that parties related to the creators of the Ultracade arcade game cabinet counterfeited numerous classic arcade games for public sale in the West, with extensive background on the fascinating case and claims from SNK Playmore, Tecmo, G-Mode, and Jaleco that their IP was used without their knowledge.]
Gamasutra previously reported that former Ultracade Technologies owner David Russell Foley had been handed a 35-count felony indictment on July 1st, 2009 by the United States District Court.
The indictment accuses Foley of counterfeiting Ultracade arcade game packs on USB flash memory drives between June 2006 and February 2008 for his own financial benefit, using property he previously sold to Global VR. Foley is accused of selling those game packs to Michael Daddona, who would then sell them on Ebay through his company Automated Services based in Milford, Connecticut.
G-Mode, Jaleco, SNK Playmore and Tecmo representatives have now publicly commented to Gamasutra, and are accusing Ultracade Technologies former owner David R. Foley of piracy. These parties are now claiming that Ultracade arcade game cabinets and game packs contained many titles that were never legitimately licensed for Ultracade.
All four companies released statements to Gamasutra indicating they had no records of ever licensing their game titles to Ultracade Technologies and its former owner David Russell Foley. These products include the original Ultracade coin-op arcade units and game packs.
Categories: Arcade,Merchandise,Mods,Retro