Konami Files Lawsuit Against Roxor Over Dance Game

Japanese-headquartered publisher and Dance Dance Revolution creator Konami has filed a complaint in the Eastern District of Texas against Roxor Games, Inc., asking the court to grant an injunction and damages against Roxor's In The Groove dance game. In The Groove originally debuted in U.S. arcades, and a PlayStation 2 version, published by third-party DDR peripheral maker and now publisher Red Octane, is due out later this month. The U.S. District Court complaint is specifically based on the fact that the arcade version of In The Groove can be retrofitted into Dance Dance Revolution arcade game, as well as issues involving trademark dilution and the placing of Roxor's logos over Konami's in the modified arcade machine. Konami commented in its official statement that "it will continue to take any legal measures necessary to protect Konami's intellectual property rights in DDR and other Konami products." In related news, RedOctane producer John Tam has released a short statement noting that the 'Edit Mode' has been removed from the PlayStation 2 version of In The Groove, which has now passed Sony approval, commenting simply: "We can not give details as to why the edit mode functionality was removed, other than it was for 'business reasons.'" It is unclear whether this is specifically due to Konami's current or another legal action. Konami has previously pursued legal action against a number of other parties for Dance Dance Revolution-style games, but following the 2002 settlement of a suit with Korean developer Andamiro over Pump It Up!, which is being published for PlayStation 2 by Mastiff later this summer, has taken a relatively hands-off approach to litigation until now.