Havok in court over brand firm dispute

Telekinesys Research Limited, the Dublin-based games middleware firm known as Havok, is being sued by a design agency that helped created their brand.

According to the Sunday Business Post, the branding work for Havok by Dublin design company, Creative Inc, had appeared in a marketing magazine article as a case study.

Emmy-winning Havok then wrote to Creative Inc requesting them to cease linking it self to the games firm. But Creative are now taking action claiming they had an agreement to use work in case studies.

The case was mentioned as a motion for entry in the commercial section of the High Court at the Four Courts in Dublin last week.

Havok, based in the Digital Hub in Dublin’s Liberties, was bought by chipmaker Intel late last year. It is best known for its physics software that helps games developers concentrate on other aspects of games creation, but has expanded to areas such as animation.

As result of the Intel buyout, Havok are to release a free non-commercial version of their Havok Complete product for PC from this May. The move is aimed at independent games developers and enthusiasts, as well as academic institutions with games courses.

According to the company its products are used in over 200 “AAA games” and as well as being used in well over 90 titles which are due to be released this year. There include Halo 3, Assassin’s Creed, and Guitar Hero III, as well as the upcoming Alan Wake, Indiana Jones, and Starcraft II. The middleware maker lists many more on its website, Havok.com.

A deal with Sony before the PlayStation 3 release also saw a version of the Havok product bundled with development hardware kits for the console.

MORE: Legal dispute between Havok and design agency (the Sunday Business Post, March 16, 2008)