Sega Enterprises Ltd. v. Accolade, Inc.

Good Law

785 F. Supp. 1392·92 Daily Journal DAR 5502·1992 WL 65417·23 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1440·1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4028

United States District Court, Northern District of CaliforniaApril 3, 1992C-91-3871 BACCalifornia4,247 words

Opinion

Caulfield, J.

ORDER GRANTING PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION

This matter comes before the court on plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction and defendant/counterclaimant’s cross-motion for preliminary injunction. Oral argument was heard on March 13, 1992. After careful consideration of the parties’ oral and written arguments, and documents and declarations filed in support thereof, the court hereby GRANTS plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction and DENIES defendant/counterclaimant’s motion for preliminary injunction.

BACKGROUND

Sega Enterprises, Ltd. (“SEL”) and its wholly owned subsidiary, Sega of America (“SOA”), develop and market video entertainment systems, including the Genesis console and video game cartridges. Accolade, Inc. (“Accolade”), founded in 1984, manufactures computer entertainment software, including game cartridges compatible with the Genesis console.

A computer program consists of a series of instructions that cause a computer to perform certain operations. Computer programs are generally written in one of several special languages (e.g. BASIC, FORTRAN), which can be understood by a trained programmer. The “source code” is translated into a computer readable language…

Sign in to read the full opinion

Create a free account to read the complete opinion text, citation history, and good-law status for this case.