Play Meter

News briefs . .. News briefs . .. News briefs . .. News briefs . ..
........ Midway Manufacturing announced the largest impoundment action ever
taken in connection with video game copyr i ght infringement when 42 defendants
were charged in federal court in Honolul u wi th violations of Midway's rights
in Galaxian, Pac-Man, and Rally-X videos. Midway sought and obtained a tempo-
rary restraining order and impoundment orders against every defendant, and in
total, 130 games were impounded. The contested games in Hawaii bore th e names
Racing-X, Moon Alien, Puckrnan, Xistar , Galaxian Part I, Galaxian Part II, and
Galaxy Ship. In a separate action filed by Midway in federal court in Utah,
impoundment orders were issued against defendant Imperial Garnes, Inc., and 21
videos labelled Gobbler were seized. Also impounded were 27 games without
electronic PC boards. Midway ' s legal counsel in Chicago stated that every
available legal action will be pursued on the manufacturer/licensee's behalf.
Details will follow in Play Meter ..... . ... .... ... .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ·
....... . A full report on the Tournament Garnes Inc. multi-tournament in Chicago
during AMOA week will appear in the next issue of Play Meter. An investigative
follow-up to the story of the fiasco--which left some winning players unpaid--
was delayed due to developments which surfaced before this issue went to press .
........ The first meeting of a new Indiana operators association was held
November 22 in Indianapolis. Lee Melchi , of Jack Eiser Sales/Ft. Wayne, was
elected president of the Indiana Amusement & Music Operators Association. At
the formative meeting were 39 persons , and the IAMOA was set for another
meeting in mid-December in Indianapolis . . .. . ..... . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
....... . Hal Watner, a veteran in coin-op sales, has joined a group of princi-
pals in the formation of Fantasy Garnes Inc. in California. Watkins will be
Fantasy's executive vice president and general manager ....... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. ...... . General Vending Sales Corp. has announced the opening of its n e w, full
branch office in Richmond , Virginia as an authorized coin-op distributor for
Virginia operators. Bill Carnahan will be joining the sales staff, along with
Dan Collins to serve General Vending ' s Virginia customers. The firm projects
major increases for 1982 in the Keystone State ' s coin machine market ......... .
.. .... . . Betson Enterprises/Moonachie, New Jersey announced it recentl y con-
cluded a successful sales promotion involving Rock-Ola phonographs and
Automatic Products smoke shops. Entitled "Get Away from It All," the pro-
motion offered excursions to local resorts and vacations abroad . Winning
customers numbered 44 who earned these expense-paid holidays through the
purchase of jukeboxes and cigarette vendors . . ... .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....... .
. . ..... . Jim Sneed of Kurz-Kasch held mini-schools for technicians through the
OMAA , teaching November 5 - 6 in Columbus , Ohio , and November 17 - 18 in Finley,
Ohio, on the subjects " Basic Digital Circuitry " and "Basic Logic Circuits."
About 25 persons attended each of the sessions . . .. . .... . ....... . ......... . ... .
... . . . . . Ed Doris of the AVMDA distributors association reports that it is now
subscribing to the Commerce Clearing House legislative monitoring servic e .
This will alert the association to all state and federal legislation affe ctin g
the coin industry, said Doris , and a data bank on legislation specifics will
be provided to AVMDA . ... . .... . .......... . .. ... . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... . ......... .
.... . ... Dixie Amusement Co . of Biloxi, Mississippi has announced it is now a
full line distributor for Centuri, Inc. machines. The distributorship is
located at 2803 Pass Road, Biloxi 39531 . .. ......... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .
... ..... Willis Industries, Inc. has signed an agreement to be represented by
James Industries in Illinois and other markets in the Midwest. All creative
graphics design work and production will be done in Willis' new facility in
San Jose, California, said Brian Warkentin , Willis ' vice president/marketing.
He noted that James Industries has "an excellent reputation built on supplying
Wells - Gardner monitors and other components to the game manufacturers . " ...... .
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PLAY METER, january 15 , 198 2