The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit recently upheld a district court's ruling that the prevailing defendants, Hasbro and Klamer, were not entitled to attorney fees in a copyright lawsuit from Markham Concepts regarding "The Game of Life."

First Circuit Judge Kermit Lipez authored the June 22 opinion, upholding the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island's ruling that there was no need for compensation or deterrence in the form of attorney fees. The case stems from a long-standing dispute over the party responsible for the invention of the game. Before "The Game of Life" was released in 1960, Reuben Kalmer originated the idea for the game, and asked Bill Markham to design and build a prototype. Feeling the royalty Markham received was unfairly low, his successors-in-interest—Markham died in 1993—brought up the case against Klamer in recent years.