Ep 202 — From Atari to NVIDIA: We Don’t Care, We Don’t Have To!
Fri Feb 06 2026
Andrew flies solo on today’s show, which… coincidentally features a bunch of law from the 1980s. Learn how a 1981 advertisement for a soon-to-be defunct video game system shaped the law of copyright into what it is today after Atari sued Magnavox to pull a Pac-Man clone off the shelves.
In the second story, we talk about the death of antitrust law. What once broke up the phone company’s monopoly is now so defanged that just two companies control almost all of the components that go into your PC. Oh, and the phone company basically reassembled itself.
The computer graphics monopoly set us on the path where computer are rented, not owned. And taking advantage of that was a company that targeted teenagers who want the latest and greatest gaming rig (but can’t afford it). Learn about the consumer fraud lawsuit, potential settlement, and the future of computers. Have we gone backwards since the 1980s? (Yes.)
Check out the independent reporting of Steve Burke at GamersNexus.
Atari, Inc. v. North American Philips Consumer Electronics Corp., 672 F.2d 607 (1982)
https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=16433139020722034724
Burns v. Fragile, Inc. [docket via CourtListener]
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.454102/
Steve Burke, GamersNexus YouTube channel
https://www.youtube.com/@GamersNexus
Show Links:
https://www.lawandchaospod.com/
BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod
Threads: @LawAndChaosPod
Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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Andrew flies solo on today’s show, which… coincidentally features a bunch of law from the 1980s. Learn how a 1981 advertisement for a soon-to-be defunct video game system shaped the law of copyright into what it is today after Atari sued Magnavox to pull a Pac-Man clone off the shelves. In the second story, we talk about the death of antitrust law. What once broke up the phone company’s monopoly is now so defanged that just two companies control almost all of the components that go into your PC. Oh, and the phone company basically reassembled itself. The computer graphics monopoly set us on the path where computer are rented, not owned. And taking advantage of that was a company that targeted teenagers who want the latest and greatest gaming rig (but can’t afford it). Learn about the consumer fraud lawsuit, potential settlement, and the future of computers. Have we gone backwards since the 1980s? (Yes.) Check out the independent reporting of Steve Burke at GamersNexus. Atari, Inc. v. North American Philips Consumer Electronics Corp., 672 F.2d 607 (1982) https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=16433139020722034724 Burns v. Fragile, Inc. [docket via CourtListener] https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.454102/ Steve Burke, GamersNexus YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@GamersNexus Show Links: https://www.lawandchaospod.com/ BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod Threads: @LawAndChaosPod Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.