Legal battle between Southpeak and Timegate rumbles on

A Texan judge has over-turned a judgement made in favour of Southpeak in the publisher's long-running legal battle with Section 8 studio Timegate.

The ruling had seemed to have settled the case in favour of Southpeak, awarding damages on he basis of contract infringement and unlawful termination of the behalf of Timegate. Southpeak was also awarded the IP rights to Section 8, another major point of argument in the case.

However, that ruling has itself now been judged to be unlawful, with the latest judge deciding that the arbitration was directly contrary to the initial contract.

The two parties have been locked in the dispute since 2008, when Southpeak acquired Gamecock - which then had a contract with Timegate for the development of Section 8. That contract proved to be contentious in the extreme, resulting in a courtroom tussle which pervades today.

Games legal expert and sometime GamesIndustry International contributor Jas Purewal has an excellent summary of the ruling and case to this point at his blog, Gamer/Law, alongside some pointers for avoiding contract disputes.