http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3172094
They sued NCSoft on Christmas Eve, the bastards.
Patent
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lordofduct
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Re: Patent
The thing this company forgot about when it comes to patents... you have to lay claim to the patent in due time of when someones releases the product.
They are suing a company with 8 titles listed in that article alone... some of which are not even recent titles. What took them so long to realize!?
They are suing a company with 8 titles listed in that article alone... some of which are not even recent titles. What took them so long to realize!?
Re: Patent
Why exactly are they suing? I read the article but I'm not sure why they are suing.
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lordofduct
- Next-Gen
- Posts: 2907
- Joined: Sat Apr 01, 2006 12:57 pm
- Location: West Palm Beach
Re: Patent
Because this company patented the concept of an MMORPG. A 3d environment with avatars and blah blah blah... I came up with a generic idea and patented it so if anyone else makes it I get to pitch a fit because I dropped the ball. Whiny crack whores!!!!raztat wrote:Why exactly are they suing? I read the article but I'm not sure why they are suing.
Re: Patent
I never even herd of worlds.com until now how long have they been around?
Re: Patent
This will get thrown out of court.
Trust me.
It's just far too vague a patent to enforce.
You don't just file a patent saying the most vague shit i've ever heard and then just wait for somebody to be successful with your idea then sue them for it.
Oh wait! That happens all the time in America...
Still, I think there is something slightly dodgy about this.
Trust me.
It's just far too vague a patent to enforce.
You don't just file a patent saying the most vague shit i've ever heard and then just wait for somebody to be successful with your idea then sue them for it.
Oh wait! That happens all the time in America...
Still, I think there is something slightly dodgy about this.
Marurun wrote:Don’t mind-shart your pants, guys
Re: Patent
In the past year or two, thanks to a couple decisive supreme court rulings, the US appeals courts have been more likely to strike down vague patents. The pendulum is swinging back the other way. In the current climate I'm confident this one will get tossed. Further, I bet they filed on Christmas Eve to try to delay and make it harder for NC Soft to make the 20 day response filing deadline. Should also increase lawyer costs, too.
Re: Patent
If the company truly invented the concept of a MMO, they deserve monetary entitlement. It's not a vague idea, it's an specfic type of product. I'm sure they have documented proof and as result will most likely win. And even if it is "vague" and the whole attempt was to garner money, they they'll most likely win on that account too. Lawsuits like this are very expensive, and it could easily conclude with an out-of-court settlement.
You know that story, about how NASA spent millions of dollars developing this pen that writes in Zero G? Did you ever read that?
You know how the Russians solved the problem?
They used a pencil.
You know how the Russians solved the problem?
They used a pencil.
Re: Patent
Actually, it kinda reminds me of Alpex Computer Corporation v. Nintendo of America, where Alpex had a vague patent known as the 555 patent, which they practically used to blackmail the industry. It claimed ownership over ROM chips in game cartridges that could be plugged into a console. After they got the patent they went on a tirade of legal threats, attacking every company they could. Supposedly Atari paid up to $380,000 to settle with them.
Eventually they toned it down, and then went bankrupt in 1983, so they began a new round of lawsuits against 70 companies. At this point, that patent was the only thing keeping that company afloat. Even Sega paid them a settlement for a "license." Nintendo decided against it and went to court over it, and lost. They were ordered to pay $250 million dollars. When the case went to appeals court, the decision was reversed.
Worlds.com claims to have existed since 1994, and this patent is displayed on their website, which leads me to think of one thing: this is their only means of existence. Reading their news stories, before they began mailing legal threats, they had a bit of an overhaul on their board of directors. These appear more to be signs of trouble than of a healthy, growing company. In all honesty, the website looks as if it was set up purely to show news stories and their patent.
If their patent is held up, it won't simply apply to MMOs. Every game with some kind of three dimensional interface that multiple people can access will be forced to contact them. That means almost any game with multiplayer. Any service provided by a corporation that uses this technology(such as a chat program with 3-dimensional objects) will also be forced to pay them. And every school or university project that uses it will have to go through them.
I think that, just like Alpex, this is probably the only real shot they've got at survival. Likely that patent is the only thing they have that is determined to be of value. But technology patents are a bit awkward. Usually it comes down to patenting or copyrighting code. Instead, they're claiming a ownership on a means of communication that is almost as widespread as the Internet. So, if this works, I think I may just go get myself a patent on the Internet and claim that I had that idea for the 'net long before those guys at ARPA. Oh, and I'll patent books too.
Eventually they toned it down, and then went bankrupt in 1983, so they began a new round of lawsuits against 70 companies. At this point, that patent was the only thing keeping that company afloat. Even Sega paid them a settlement for a "license." Nintendo decided against it and went to court over it, and lost. They were ordered to pay $250 million dollars. When the case went to appeals court, the decision was reversed.
Worlds.com claims to have existed since 1994, and this patent is displayed on their website, which leads me to think of one thing: this is their only means of existence. Reading their news stories, before they began mailing legal threats, they had a bit of an overhaul on their board of directors. These appear more to be signs of trouble than of a healthy, growing company. In all honesty, the website looks as if it was set up purely to show news stories and their patent.
If their patent is held up, it won't simply apply to MMOs. Every game with some kind of three dimensional interface that multiple people can access will be forced to contact them. That means almost any game with multiplayer. Any service provided by a corporation that uses this technology(such as a chat program with 3-dimensional objects) will also be forced to pay them. And every school or university project that uses it will have to go through them.
I think that, just like Alpex, this is probably the only real shot they've got at survival. Likely that patent is the only thing they have that is determined to be of value. But technology patents are a bit awkward. Usually it comes down to patenting or copyrighting code. Instead, they're claiming a ownership on a means of communication that is almost as widespread as the Internet. So, if this works, I think I may just go get myself a patent on the Internet and claim that I had that idea for the 'net long before those guys at ARPA. Oh, and I'll patent books too.
Re: Patent
It's not just a patent that keeps the company afloat. AerosmithWorld helps too
Atari ST, Atari 2600, Commodore 64, Master System, NES, Mega Drive, 32X, SNES, Amiga CD32, Atari Jaguar, Saturn, Playstation, N64, Dreamcast, Playstation 2, Gamecube, Xbox360, Wii
Gamegear, Lynx, Gameboy (100s of the bloody things), Game & Watches (coming out of my ears)
Gamegear, Lynx, Gameboy (100s of the bloody things), Game & Watches (coming out of my ears)