LOS ANGELES (Legal Newsline) – One of the greatest video game players of all time can continue his defamation lawsuit against a company that removed his scores from its leaderboard.
The California Second Appellate District ruled Oct. 12 that Twin Galaxies can’t get out of a lawsuit by William Mitchell by mounting an anti-SLAPP defense.
Defamation defendants can use the anti-SLAPP law to argue their speech was protected. But a Los Angeles trial court and the Second District have ruled Mitchell has shown a probability of winning his case and rejected the anti-SLAPP defense.
At issue is Mitchell’s world record score on Donkey Kong that was disputed by a fellow gamer who argued Mitchell must have played on an emulator rather than the actual arcade game.
Twin Galaxies took screenshots by the competitor into consideration when agreeing with him. It issued a statement that Mitchell’s actions warranted the removal of all his scores from the leaderboards maintained by the company.
Mitchell claims the statement defamed him. He notes Guinness World Records, after its own investigation, affirmed his scores.
“Twin Galaxies failed to take any steps to inquire into the truth of Mitchell’s statements even after he was provided the names of witnesses and (Twin Galaxies’ founder and former owner Walter) Day confirmed the procedures under which the disputed scores were achieved,” Justice Sam Ohta wrote.
“The record also shows Twin Galaxies may have relied on biased sources to reach its conclusion. For example, the individual who provided (Twin Galaxies owner Jace) Hall with copies of the videotapes for the King of Kong score and the Mortgage Brokers score indicated he had a ‘master plan’ to ‘take (Mitchell) down.’
“Mitchell also attested to the animosity of the third party investigator working on behalf of Twin Galaxies, including his publicly expressed conclusion that Mitchell was guilty before the investigation began. An inference of actual malice may be made from Twin Galaxies’ failure to investigate and reliance on biased sources.”
Mitchell’s accomplishments include the first perfect score on Pac-Man history and the title of “Video Game Player of the Century” by Pac-Man’s maker.
Twin Galaxies partners with other video game adjudicators and publishes leaderboards for thousands of video games. When it came to three of Mitchell’s Donkey Kong scores, the controversy began with Jeremy Young’s assertion that certain images and anomalies on Mitchell’s games could not have been produced by the actual arcade game.
He claimed Mitchell must have played on an emulation platform. Twin Galaxies posted copies of the video footage on its website for members to comment on. After its investigation, it issued a lengthy statement that removed Mitchell’s scores and banned any future scores from its leaderboards.
Media attention followed, and Mitchell filed suit. He says he lost money because he uses his notoriety to promote his hot sauce company, Rickeys’ Hot Sauce.