Copyright and video games between the games were limited to the plaintiff's ideas. According to the court the similarities, "were inevitable given the requirements of the idea of a game involving a spaceship combating space rocks and given the technical demands of the medium of a video game." In Atari v. North American Philips Consumer Electronics Corp. (1982) the 7th Circuit wrote that "no plagiarist can excuse the wrong by showing how much of his work he did not pirate." This was said in the context of the fact that, "while a game is not protectable by copyright as such, this kind of work
William H. Dabney William H. Dabney William Howard Dabney, (September 28, 1934 – February 15, 2012), was a retired colonel in the United States Marine Corps. He was awarded the Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism in the Vietnam War. He also served as the Commandant of Cadets at Virginia Military Institute (VMI) from 1989 to 1990. Dabney was born as William Wagner in Saint John New Brunswick, Canada on September 28, 1934, to Victor William Wagner (1894–1972) and Mary Hennessey Wagner (1902–1990). His mother remarried Hugh Keane Dabney(1893-1972) on May 5, 1945 in Henrico Co., Virginia and his surname was changed to Dabney.