Former Red Octane Staff Prohibited from Music Games

In what seems to be some ugly fallout from the Guitar Hero / RedOctane purchase, former Octane employees John Tam and Corey Fong are now legally prohibited from working on rhythm games. Activision has successfully brought suit against the men, arguing that they were using proprietary information gained under employ at the corporation to aid their new venture. As part their work after leaving RedOctane, Tam and Fong had begun working with the Reverb and The Ant Commandos groups on a demo for a dance/guitar game. "The demo incorporated elements of Guitar Hero and StepMania, a free dance game for the PC that supports dancepads and includes a step editor. The pair used it to solicit partners and funding for Lodestone Entertainment, the injunction states. As part of the injunction, the pair is prohibited from distributing or using the demo in any capacity and acting on or disclosing any Activision trade secrets. They are also prevented from taking steps to develop drum-, guitar-, or synthesizer-based games for the next year, nor can they work on any Xbox 360 controllers for Guitar Hero II until six months after the game's release this week. "

Comments

Sounds like a standard Non-Compete ... ?

[Morgon]

Am I wrong in thinking that this is the result of a typical non-compete (or equivalent)? I know I've had to sign some before.
And to answer some other posts, it's not like telling a programmer he can't use whatever control structures he wants - these guys are specifically prevented from using information they gathered while working for a company in which that information is their entire business.

Re:Sounds like a standard Non-Compete ... ?

[SatanicPuppy]

I worked at place that tried to make me sign a non-compete, but the wording was so vague that it would have prevented me from doing an unrelated sideline that I was already doing, so they took it back to re-word it, and it conveniently vanished into the shuffle of paperwork.

Years later, when I left the company after a falling out with the management, and set up shop in the same town, they tried to sue me without making sure they had the paperwork.

It was sweet.

More was sold than just IP...

[Applekid]

Guitar Hero's ability to bring the rhythm game to the mainstream in Western countries made the big corps take notice. A dumptruck of money arrived to the doorstep which is a huge payday for a "mom & pop" publisher like Red Octane (while not strictly "mom & pop", in comparison to a behemoth like Activision, they are.) There's always a price to be paid and this fallout just highlights one of those prices. That's why it's called "selling out."

Considering how "hot" the property is, I'd call it reasonable to say that any corporation that bought this IP would guard it as strongly.

That said, TFA:
"... Guitar Hero II executive producer John Tam and brand manager Corey Fong ..."

Hmmm... how much success-deriding decision-making did these two actually make on GH2, anyway?

Sad, but not that sad.

[Anonymous Coward]

I have met John Tam back when RedOctane was marketing In The Groove and about to reveal Guitar Hero at E3. He put the kibosh on certain press groups that he felt didn't kiss his ass enough. Michael Nguyen was a great guy to work with, but when he tried to do some stuff with the website I worked with, who had been long-time partners of ours, John Tam stepped in and shut everything down in favor of trying to get in with the big gaming publications like GameSpot and 1Up. In the end we did some great promotions with RedOctane and probably contibuted significantly to the success of the first Guitar Hero. Early next year, Michael Nguyen abruptly left the company and RO quit talking to us altogether.

They definitely have forgotten their roots. I have very little pity for John Tam.

Read the article guys... They screwed up big time

[Fallen Kell]

They really did screw up with this. They instructed other activision employees (they were managers), to develop a demo for a new game. They then left the company and used that demo that was made while at activision by activision employees to sell as the basis of a new game. If they had done it on their own time with their own resources without involving other activision employees, hardware or software, they would probably have been ok. However, they didn't.

Re:Tam and Fong are out of the porn industry too?

[shiva19]

I was under the impression that the porn industry was all about First Person Shooters.