system. Song-Pro will be available in stores in time for the holiday season, but the company almost lost all chances of making it when Nintendo filed a lawsuit against the company.| Current Issue | The Archives | Our Top 5 Articles | Ebay Auctions | The Shoppe |
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| A Rocky Courtship | The Potential Impact on the Gaming and Music Industries |
| The History of Song-Pro | The Future of Song-Pro |
Songboy now known as Song-Pro is an $89.95 multimedia player plug-in module for the Nintendo Game Boy Color gaming system. Song-Pro will be available in stores in time for the holiday season, but the company almost lost all chances of making it when Nintendo filed a lawsuit against the company.
Nintendo had sued Songboy for infringement of its intellectual property rights, but a settlement between the two companies led Songboy to change their name, but didn't change plans to release the new music player for the popular gaming system. Nintendo has even granted Song-Pro a patent license.
"We are pleased that we were able to come together and find a common ground for agreement," said Richard Flamm, vice-president and general counsel of Nintendo of America. "Nintendo is committed to protecting its' intellectual property rights and we appreciate Song-Pro's cooperation in resolving this situation."
"The agreement will allow us to pursue our vision of extending the digital music revolution to an entirely new market by providing the most affordable players to a user base of 100 million portable game device users," added Ron L. Jones, president and CEO of Song-Pro.
The lawsuit may have actually helped Song-Pro as both companies received media attention because of it. The lawsuit even brought the Reverend Jesse Jackson and his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition Silicon Valley Project into the picture. Jackson and his group brought both companies together for the meeting that resulted in the settlement.
"We are more than pleased that we have been able to reach an amicable arrangement between the two companies," said Jackson. "It has always been the goal of the Rainbow/PUSH Silicon Valley Project to actively seek to create and promote opportunities for women and minorities (like Ron L. Jones) in Silicon Valley. We wholeheartedly embrace Nintendo's action."
"It's a great day in America's business community," exclaimed Jones. "With the legal dispute with Nintendo behind us, I'm looking forward to truly exciting opportunities in the future."
And the future does look bright now that they have been given the green light to produce the Song-Pro unit for the Game Boy system. Jones is happy with the latest developments having nothing but a positive outlook for his company.