Omni Micro Technology

From Sega Retro


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Omni Micro Technology Ltd. was an English arcade firm which sold unlicensed clones of popular arcade games.[2] Successfully sued by Sega Enterprises, Inc. in December 1981 for their illegal sale of the Frogger clone Leapfrog, the company appears to have quickly entered into an agreement with Sega to properly distribute Frogger the following month.[3]

Company

From the available information, it appears Omni Micro Technology's entire business model revolved around taking Galaxian arcade boards and modifying them to accept ROM cartridges (known as Gamepacks) in an effort to reduce the costs of replacing older arcade games.[3]

In December 1981, Sega Enterprises, Inc. filed a lawsuit against the company for illegally distributing a clone of Frogger named Leapfrog.[2] Deemed to be a "substantial copy" of the original game, Sega obtained orders to seize infringing goods and documents relating to the title from Omni's offices. The company was also forced to provide written notification to England's High Court promising to desist from any further acts of infringement.[2][4]

Following the lawsuit, Omni appears to have entered into an agreement with Sega Enterprises to properly license and distribute Frogger through their signature Gamepack system, being advertised as early as January 1982 - the following month.[5][3] Fittingly, the company featured this newly-acquired official license front and center in print ads, now boasting "the support of the world's major 'original' game manufacturers".[1]

Softography

Magazine articles

Main article: Omni Micro Technology/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

References