Southpeak Claims Victory In Nobilis Case, Will Publish My Baby Games

Southpeak Interactive says it has won a case against My Baby developer Nobilis Group SAS, winning back the right to publish games based on the popular brand in North America. The Lyon, France Commercial Court found that Nobilis had no legal basis to terminate its distribution agreement with Southpeak, the publisher said, restoring Southpeak's right and ability to publish games in the series effective immediately. “We are pleased that the Court has upheld our complaint and we are thrilled to be able to push ahead in publishing this powerful brand,” said Southpeak President and CEO Melanie Mroz. “The protection of our publishing rights is of paramount importance to SouthPeak and as in this case, we will vigorously defend them." The legal fight over the My Baby game brand -- which has sold over 1 million copies in North America -- began last July, when Nobilis accused Southpeak of non-payment and took publishing rights for My Baby 3 & Friends over to Majesco. Southpeak sued Majesco over that company's subsequent publishing of the game in a case that is still pending but likely to be affected by this judgement. The inability to publish My Baby titles while the Nobilis suit was pending caused Southpeak's revenues for the first quarter of fiscal 2011, which ran through last September, to crater 91 percent compared to the year before. “With this victory, the Court in Lyon has made a decision that benefits our consumers and our shareholders alike," Mroz said. Two other unrelated legal matters -- one involving European distributor CDV and another involving Paradox Interactive -- were resolved last year, though a 2009 suit brought by Section 8 developer TimeGate studios is currently in arbitration.