Nestle, Atari settle lawsuit over Kit Kat campaign

Atari SA

25/01/2018 14:50

By Jonathan Stempel 
    Jan 25 (Reuters) - Nestle SA  NESN.S  has settled a lawsuit 
in which Atari SA  ATAR.PA  accused the Swiss food company of 
using the hit 1970s video game "Breakout" without permission to 
sell Kit Kat bars. 
    U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, 
California, dismissed Atari's copyright infringement case on 
Wednesday after the companies settled, court records show. 
    "The action was resolved through a mutually acceptable 
confidential settlement agreement," Nestle said in an email on 
Thursday. Atari and its lawyers did not immediately respond to 
requests for comment. 
    "Breakout," a follow-up to the classic game "Pong," was 
created by Apple Inc  AAPL.O  co-founder Steve Wozniak with help 
from fellow co-founder Steve Jobs. It required a player to knock 
down rows of colored bricks with a paddle. 
    Atari accused Nestle of replacing the bricks with brown Kit 
Kat bars and using them in a Kit Kat Bites commercial titled 
"Kit Kat: Breakout" that showed adults and children using 
paddles to knock the bars down. 
    Nestle and its U.S. and U.K. affiliates did this to 
encourage "nostalgic Baby Boomers, Generation X, and even 
today's Millennial and post-Millennial 'gamers'" to buy Kit Kat, 
Atari said in court papers last August.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N1L400X 
    The ad ran only in the United Kingdom and stopped running 
before Atari filed its lawsuit, Nestle has said.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N1L40EL 
    Last week, Nestle said it would sell its U.S. candy business 
to Italy's Ferrero SpA for $2.8 billion.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1PB5VV 
    Nestle plans to keep selling Kit Kat globally, but not in 
the United States, where Hershey Co  HSY.N  owns the brand. 
 
 (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Lisa Von 
Ahn) 
 ((jon.stempel@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646 223 6317; Reuters 
Messaging: jon.stempel.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: NESTLE ATARI/