Atari Games Corp. v. Oman is an appeal of a court case concerning whether a video game with very simple graphical and audio elements may be copyrighted. Breakout is a paddle and ball video game created by the plaintiff, Atari Games Corporation, initially released in 1976. Eleven years later, in 1987, the plaintiff sought registration for the work with the US Copyright Office. On February 13, 1987, and again on May 22, 1987, Register of Copyrights Ralph Oman refused to register the work because it "did not contain at least a minimum amount of original pictorial or graphic authorship, or authorship in sounds". Atari challenged Oman's decision not to award the game copyright protection.