Play Meter

HEWS
based on the results of that evalua-
tion, he said, National City officials
declared that the game was not in
violation of any law.
Summing up, Snyder stressed this:
a legal product does not have to be
approved.
Mickey Starks of Quality Amusement
in Portland, Ore., however, reported
that Big Choice and the crane
Coallenger are not faring so well in
his neck of the woods. Starks, presi-
dent of the metropolitan area's Skill
Game Operators Association, said that
at least six of the cranes were provi-
sionally approved by Portland's Bureau
of Licenses in mid-April this year.
During the city's Rose festival in
June, however, a carnival company
brought in crane games that police
felt required more luck than skill. The
police recommended that crane games
be declared illegal.
Starks said his association has
hired a lawyer to "negotiate" with
the city on the issue. If the cranes
are declared illegal, he said, the asso-
ciation plans to fight it.
Fii SEIZES PRIHH .. CllCllT
llUB
T
hirty-four allegedly counterfeit
printed-circuit boards that were
enroute from Japan to U.S. dis-
tributor Video Ware, Inc., were seized
in Los Angeles by the FBI on Sep-
tember 9.
Bob Fay, director of industry
affairs and enforcement for the Amer-
ican Amusement Machine Association
(AAMA), reported that U.S. Customs
inspectors at Los Angeles Airport
detained the shipment of Tiger Helis,
whose U.S. copyright is held by Taito
America Corp. , because of the "suspi-
cious nature of the boards." Fay said
Customs officials then called the FBI,
who obtained a seizure warrant from
the U.S. magistrate in the Central
District of California, Los Angeles, on
September 8.
John Hibbs, president of Video
Ware, reportedly said that Video
Ware's shipments are routinely
detained by Customs officials and
have always been found to be "legally
importable," and that he expects the
same outcome with the Tiger Heli
boards.
The matter has been turned over
to the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles.
CIST IF JUKEllX UCEHSE
Tl IHCIUSE
T
he cost of a jukebox license
from the U.S. Copyright Office
will increase to $63 from the
current $50 on January 1, 1987.
According to George Lanier of the
Copyright Office's licensing division,
94,495 machines were licensed in the
U.S. last year, and operator accounts
numbered 3,662.
The new rate will remain in effect
through 1989, Lanier said, but will be
adjusted "through negotiation" after
that.
A 1985 agreement signed by the
AMOA and the performing rights
organizations BMI, SESAC, and ASCAP
allows for a $3 rebate per machine in
1987 if at least 110,000 jukeboxes
are registered by the end of that
year, and a $3 rebate in 1988 if at
least 115,000 jukeboxes are registered.
There will be no rebate in 1989.
AIACHHll AWAITS HWIHG
IAH IH IAMAGES
T
he U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Federal Circuit in Washington,
D.C., has unanimously affirmed a
decision reached last December by a
federal district court in Chicago that
found that Industrial Design Electron-
ics Associates, Inc. (IDEA), had
infringed a dart-game patent held by
Arachnid, Inc.
According to Arachnid, the appellate
court's September 4 decision read, in
part, that the "jury's factual findings
are adequately supported by substan-
tial evidence, and we conclude that
the district court's legal rulings with
respect to validity and infringement
were correct."
Bernard "Bernie" Powers, Arach-
nid's marketing and sales director,
said that the appellate court also
upheld a preliminary injunction filed
in district court against the manufac-
ture, sale, or distribution of IDEA
products that were redesigned after
the jury verdict.
In the first of back-to-back Sep-
tember announcements, however, IDEA
reported that it is "taking orders and
shipping dart games as well as pre-
paring for a big tournament this
October in Germany." The company
said it is now shipping non-infringing
dart games "with the full knowledge
of the court," and that "major
improvements" in the games will be
on display at the AMOA show.
In the second announcement, IDEA
explained that the dart games now
being shipped were redesigned after
the injunction was issued. Samples of
the second redesign, IDEA said, have
been submitted to the federal district
judge and to Arachnid's attorneys.
According to IDEA, the new games
"couldn't possibly infringe or she
[District Judge Barbara Crabb] would
have held us in contempt of court."
IDEA also said that the judge's
refusal to stop the use of IDEA's
games in the AMOA National Dart
Association tournament indicates the
company's latest design does not
infringe.
Arachnid, however, believes that the
second redesign also infringes on its
patent, but Powers said, "we couldn't
take them to court over that, because
they filed for bankruptcy." The bank-
ruptcy court is expected to assign
IDEA's Chapter 11 filing back to dis-
trict court. Arachnid is seeking more
than $2 million in damages.
Powers said the appellate court's
decision also "clears the way" for
October 1986/ PLAY METER 9