Editing Trivial Pursuit (section)

==Legal action==
===Worth lawsuit===
In October 1984, Fred L. Worth, author of ''[[The Trivia Encyclopedia]]'', ''Super Trivia'', and ''Super Trivia II'', filed a $300 million lawsuit against the distributors of ''Trivial Pursuit''. He claimed that more than a quarter of the questions in the game's Genus Edition had been taken from his books, even to the point of reproducing typographical errors and [[fictitious entry|deliberately placed misinformation]]. One of the questions in ''Trivial Pursuit'' was "What was [[Columbo (character)|Columbo]]'s first name?" with the answer "Philip". That information had been fabricated to catch anyone who might try to [[Copyright infringement|violate his copyright]].<ref name=overend>{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gOYKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2U8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4598%2C4685968| newspaper=[[The Daily Courier (Arizona)|The Courier]]| location=[[Prescott, Arizona]]| title=Trivial Suit| date=25 October 1984| last=Overend| first=William| access-date=2014-07-16| archive-date=2016-03-12| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312044954/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gOYKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2U8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4598%2C4685968| url-status=live}}</ref>

The inventors of ''Trivial Pursuit'' acknowledged that Worth's books were among their sources, but argued that this was not improper and that facts are not protected by copyright. The district court judge agreed, ruling in favor of the ''Trivial Pursuit'' inventors. The decision was appealed, and in September 1987 the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit]] upheld the ruling.<ref name=9cir>{{cite court |litigants=Worth v. Selchow & Righter Company |vol=827 |reporter=F.2d |opinion=596 |court=9th Cir. |date=1987 |url=http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/827/569/3179/}}</ref>  Worth asked the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] to review the case, but the Court declined, denying [[certiorari]] in March 1988.<ref name=supreme>{{cite court |litigants=Worth v. Selchow & Righter Co. |vol=485 |reporter=U.S. |opinion=977 |date=1988 |url=http://wy.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac./SCT/1988/19880328_0041517.SCT.htm/qx}} (''cert. denied.'')</ref>

===Wall lawsuit===
In 1994, David Wall of [[Cape Breton Regional Municipality|Cape Breton, Nova Scotia]], launched a lawsuit against the game's creators. He claimed that in the fall of 1979, he and a friend were hitchhiking near [[Sydney, Nova Scotia]], when they were picked up by Chris Haney. Wall claimed that he told Haney about his idea for the game in detail, including the shape of the markers.

Wall's mother testified she found drawings of his that looked like plans for a ''Trivial Pursuit''-like game, but the drawings had since been destroyed. Wall's friend, who was allegedly hitchhiking with him that day, never testified. Haney said he never met Wall.

Over the years, there was much legal wrangling, notably around whether the suit should be decided by a judge or jury. On June 25, 2007, the [[Nova Scotia Supreme Court]] ruled against Wall.<ref name=abcnews>{{cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/06/26/1962864.htm |title=Hitchhiker loses Trivial Pursuit rights battle |work=[[ABC News (Australia)|Australian Broadcasting Corporation News]] |publisher=Abc.net.au |date=26 June 2007 |access-date=2014-07-16 |archive-date=2011-02-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110227135837/http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/06/26/1962864.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>