Oh no, you're thinking, yet another cookie pop-up. Well, sorry, it's the law. We measure how many people read us, and ensure you see relevant ads, by storing cookies on your device. If you're cool with that, hit “Accept all Cookies”. For more info and to customize your settings, hit “Customize Settings”.

Review and manage your consent

Here's an overview of our use of cookies, similar technologies and how to manage them. You can also change your choices at any time, by hitting the “Your Consent Options” link on the site's footer.

Manage Cookie Preferences
  • These cookies are strictly necessary so that you can navigate the site as normal and use all features. Without these cookies we cannot provide you with the service that you expect.

  • These cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you. They perform functions like preventing the same ad from continuously reappearing, ensuring that ads are properly displayed for advertisers, and in some cases selecting advertisements that are based on your interests.

  • These cookies collect information in aggregate form to help us understand how our websites are being used. They allow us to count visits and traffic sources so that we can measure and improve the performance of our sites. If people say no to these cookies, we do not know how many people have visited and we cannot monitor performance.

See also our Cookie policy and Privacy policy.

This article is more than 1 year old

Atari shoots sueball at KitKat maker over use of 'Breakout' in ad

Gaming star strikes

Atari has sued Nestle, accusing it of "blatantly" impinging on its intellectual property by featuring the 1970s video game Breakout in a Kit Kat ad without its permission.

In a lawsuit filed yesterday in San Francisco, California, the games biz accused Nestle of "blatant invasion and misappropriation of its intellectual property rights related to the iconic Breakout video game."

The game was developed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wosniak in 1975, following Atari's hit game, Pong. Jobs said the $5,000 he was paid for Breakout served as seed money for his nascent company, Apple.

"Forty years later Nestle decided that it would, without Atari’s authorisation, leverage Breakout," read the filing. "To be clear, this is not a case where a good faith dispute could exist between the rights holder and alleged infringer.

"Instead, Nestle simply took the classic Breakout screen, replaced its bricks with Kit Kat bars, and invited customers to “Breakout”* and buy more candy bars.

"Adding insult to injury, Nestle’s Breakout campaign was comprehensive, and the infringement continues to this very moment. Kit Kat ads centred on the exploitation and misuse of the Breakout name, and the Breakout look, feel, sound, and imagery remain on Twitter, under Nestle’s Twitter handle, and on Facebook, on Nestle’s Facebook page, for all the world to see."

The filing said that Nestle has denied Atari the licensing fees it would have charged Nestle for use of Atari’s intellectual property in the widely distributed Kit Kat Breakout campaign, had Atari agreed to such use.

Nestle said: "This is a UK TV advert that ran in 2016. The ad no longer runs and we have no current plans to re-run it. We are aware of the lawsuit in the US and will defend ourselves strongly against these allegations."

You can watch the TV ad here. ®

* Sub-vulture pedant note: Really, one should use two words here for the verbal phrase "break out"; it's only a Breakout – or even B/break-out – when it's a noun. Subs' desk has no comment on the merits of the lawsuit, but this is a pretty egregious violation of grammar.

Similar topics

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like