Game Makers Drop Yahoo Suit

Video game makers Nintendo Co. and Electronic Arts Inc. dropped a copyright infringement lawsuit against Internet directory Yahoo Inc. over pirated games sold on Yahoo’s Web site. The game makers declined to pursue the suit because Yahoo has pledged to do a better job of monitoring auctions and merchants for pirated games, an Electronic Arts spokesman said. They sued Yahoo about a year ago because of items sold on its site, including counterfeit games, “mod” chips that allow game consoles to play them and devices that convert game cartridges into CD-ROMs that can be played on personal computers. Sega Corp. was also part of the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Sega officials were not available to comment on their dispute with Yahoo. In Nasdaq trading, Santa Clara, Calif.-based Yahoo fell 63 cents to close at $16.38 and Redwood City, Calif.-based Electronic Arts fell 19 cents to close at $49.94. Nintendo and Sega are based in Japan.