SCi denies allegations of IP theft

SCi has categorically denied any wrongdoing in its involvement with Hungarian developers Mithis and MGE, Dutch publisher HD publishing adding its own statement of denial to the controversy.

The furore appears to have stemmed from an article in The Sunday Times, detailing an investigation by Hungarian authorities into allegations of theft of intellectual property surrounding Joint Task Force and Battlestation: Midway.

According to the article, Mithis and MGE have filed various complaints with the police, accusing SCi of illegally entering their offices and stealing source code for titles which were originally under development there.

SCi issued a statement of denial, telling US website Gamasutra that there were no specific allegations against the company.

Jane Cavanagh, CEO of SCi Entertainment said; "We would never normally comment upon such relatively minor matters and have only done so to clarify the position. We wish to correct what we believe are a number of misleading statements and material inaccuracies, particularly in this instance as allegations raised in the article appear to relate to a totally different and unrelated company or companies."

The publisher has stated that it "exercised normal contractual rights to take over the development of the software" in November 2005, following its dissatisfaction with MGE's ability to deliver on its contractual obligations.

In a further twist to the tale, Dutch publisher HD Publishing (co-publisher of Joint Task Force with Vivendi Games) has also denied any wrongdoing, confirming that the company has not been contacted by the police, and only became aware of the situation following the press attention over the past few days.

"HD Publishing is not aware of any criminal or civil proceedings brought against it in Hungary or anywhere else in relation to Joint Task Force," the company said in a statement.

The exact nature of the compalints, and indeed the situation as a whole remains unclear at present, save for both SCi and HD Publishing categorically denying any wrongdoing in the decision to transfer development of titles away from Mithis and MGE.

Joint Task Force is currently schedule for an autumn release, whilst Battlestation: Midway is scheduled for release during SCi's 2007 fiscal period.