Internet Library of Law
and Court Decisions

Sega Enterprises Ltd. v. Maphia

The defendants owned and operated a computer bulletin board service. Sega was the copyright owner of various video games as well as the trademark Sega. With defendants' knowledge and indeed with their encouragement, users of the bulletin board service uploaded and downloaded various Sega copyrighted video games onto the bulletin board. The court further found that defendants profited from this activity, either via barter for other games or through sale of other services. Moreover, the court found that many of the games were located in files on defendants' computer bearing the name Sega, which also appeared when a Sega video program downloaded from the bulletin board was run. Sega brought an action against the defendants, charging them, inter alia, with federal copyright and trademark infringement, unfair competition and false designation of origin, as well as the violation of a series of California statutes. On Sega's motion, the court issued a preliminary injunction, which enjoined defendants from continuing to engage in this conduct and directed the seizure of infringing materials in defendants' possession. The injunction included a provision barring defendants from making Sega programs available to users of the bulletin board in question, or storing Sega video programs in files accessible to such bulletin board users.