Accolade
More info
- Creator
- Alan Miller, Bob Whitehead
- Released
- 1984
- Type
- Publisher
The publisher that reverse-engineered Sega's console and won the right to do so in court.
Alan Miller and Bob Whitehead had left Atari to co-found Activision, and in 1984 they left Activision to found Accolade. The company made Test Drive (1987), among others, but is mostly remembered for a lawsuit.
To avoid Sega's licensing fees, Accolade disassembled Genesis cartridges to work out what code the console expected. Sega responded with TMSS, a check that displayed Sega's trademark on boot, so even unlicensed games appeared "licensed by Sega" on screen. In Sega v. Accolade (1992) a US appeals court held that reverse engineering for interoperability was fair use. The ruling is still cited today. Infogrames bought the company in 1999.