Sega v. Alca

Citation: ''Sega Enters. Ltd. v. Alca Elecs.,'' [1982] F.S.R. 516.

Factual Background
This was an appeal from a grant of two court orders in a case involving a claim of copyright infringement in the videogame “Frogger.” Plaintiff claimed that defendants had copied the computer program for the game and had thus infringed their copyright.

Lower Court Decision
The lower court issued an Anton Pillar order &mdash; an extraordinary ex parte order to seize allegedly infringing copies to prevent their loss or destruction &mdash; and a second order to the defendants to disclose the names and addresses of the places where videogame machines incorporating the allegedly infringing programs were located.

Appeals Court Decision
The appeals court reversed on the ground that the grant of such order at this stage of the proceeding was inappropriate since, in part, the issue of program copyrightability had not yet been resolved in the United Kingdom, and in this case there was little or no danger of the destruction of the allegedly infringing videogame.