Back in 2018, Billy Mitchell was completely stripped of his Donkey Kong world record title because Twin Galaxies accused Mitchell of cheating, claiming he did not earn his world record score on an original arcade machine. Now, Mitchell has the opportunity to take Twin Galaxies to court for defamation and accusing him of cheating during his Donkey Kong world record run.
The original accusation against Billy Mitchell started in 2018 where video evidence apparently showed that the world record was achieved by using a MAME emulator. For arcade records, all games played must be done on an arcade PCB (printed circuit board), the official hardware for these games.
Due to these accusations, Mitchell decided that he would sue Twin Galaxies for defamation. Twin Galaxies thought that Mitchell had no grounds to stand on, so it wanted the case to be thrown out with Anti-SLAPP statutes against Billy Mitchell. Anti-SLAPP statutes allow for courts to throw out cases that do not have reasonable enough evidence to move forward. Mitchell had to prove that his case had enough reason to move forward and he did just that.
Mitchell, who eventually had his Donkey Kong world record reinstated, proved that there was enough evidence for the court case to move forward. The key reason why the Los Angeles County judge sided with him was that Twin Galaxies refused to interview witnesses that Mitchell brought forward that watched him get his Donkey Kong world record run. Because of that, the judge sided with Billy Mitchell who will have his defamation court case against Twin Galaxies.
But just because that he will get his court date doesn't mean that Billy Mitchell will win the case. In most cases, Anti-SLAPP claims are successfully disputed because courts often have no choice but to side with the defendant. It does not mean that Mitchell will win his lawsuit or that he has sufficient evidence to win the trial. Galaxies fully expected the case to continue forward to trial and it also expects that it will prove that it did not defame Billy Mitchell.
The case actually has become harder for Billy Mitchell. He must now prove that what Twin Galaxies claimed was false and they did so with “actual malice” against him. Although Billy Mitchell has been readying his defamation case, the goal post has moved further away from Mitchell. Despite that, Billy Mitchell’s original Donkey Kong defamation case will move forward, and he will finally get his day in court in the future.
Source: Arstechnica