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Yahoo! Sues Xfire For Patent Infringement
CheesyPeteza writes "GameSpot is reporting
that the popular game messenger client Xfire is being sued by Yahoo for patent infringement. The patent was originally granted to two Yahoo employees who developed GameProwler for Yahoo Messenger. It describes a system which "allows users to use a game server in connection with a messenger server to permit 'buddies' to know when other 'buddies' are playing games online, and easily join such games." One of these employees then left Yahoo to work for Xfire. Xfire denies infringing on Yahoo's patent, but with the costs estimated at $2 million to defend this cas, will the startup company Xfire be able to stand up to the Yahoo giant?"
We know
Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
Doesn't Steam do this as well, using its friends list?
In a twist on the classic David-and-Goliath formula, Web giant Yahoo! is suing Menlo Park, CA, start-up Xfire for patent infringement. The basis of the complaint, filed last week in US District Court (Northern District of California) and served to Xfire representatives just two days ago, alleges that Xfire is willfully infringing on a patent controlled by Yahoo! Inc.
The patent, referred to as the '125 patent for the last three numbers of US Patent No. 6,699,125 (see screenshots for select pages from the patent documents), was granted to two then-Yahoo! employees Brian Gottlieb and Chris Kirmse on March 2, 2004. As is typical, ownership of inventions by employees remains with the corporation the employees work for. Such ownership rights are usually sealed in hiring contracts signed by the employee when he or she is first brought on.
In the case of the '125 patent, Gottlieb and Kirmse were employed by Yahoo! when they developed certain technologies for a game-specific variation on Yahoo!'s popular Yahoo! Messenger. Yahoo! has been the sole assignee--or owner--of the '125 patent since it was granted.
The complaint describes the Yahoo! Messenger instant message service--in this case, the GameProwler instant messenger application--as one that "allows users to use a game server in connection with a messenger server to permit 'buddies' to know when other 'buddies' are playing games online, and easily join such games."
Xfire offers a client application that allows gamers to chat with other gamers online. It also serves to help quickly facilitate gameplay on remote servers.
"Like the Yahoo! invention," the Yahoo! complaint reads, "this capability allows a user to see other users identified as 'friends' or 'buddies' designated on the user's computer in an instant messenger window. Also, like the Yahoo! invention, this product allows a user to see if a 'friend' or 'buddy' is online with her instant messenger program activated and also to see whether that 'friend' or 'buddy' is playing a game online...
"Defendant has no license or permission from Yahoo! to offer this capability."
The Xfire client was first made available in beta form last year. Xfire recently promoted the fact that it had reached the 1-million-registered-user threshold.
Yahoo!'s GameProwler appears to be the application it feels was compromised by the XFire client. Industry sources tell GameSpot that Xfire currently has a patent pending for its service.
Key to the complaint is Chris Kirmse, now Xfire's vice president of engineering. Yahoo! claims that "after Kirmse joined defendant [Xfire], defendant began to develop, test, and offer instant messenger 'client' software and a messenger server that, when operated with game servers, offers the capabilities of the invention."
Kirmse joined Xfire in August 2003. He had left the employ of Yahoo! some years earlier, according to sources.
Neither Yahoo! employees connected with the complaint nor attorneys representing Yahoo! in this matter would comment on the legal proceedings. Mike Cassidy, Xfire CEO, also declined requests for comment by GameSpot.
As this complaint is just one week old, no "next steps" are certain. Lawyers familiar with patent law have told GameSpot a case like this could cost up to $2 million to defend and take up to two years to fully adjudicate.
Impact on Xfire, a company founded in 2002 by Dennis "Thresh" Fong, Mike Cassidy, and Max Woon, is unclear. Likely, the company remains focused on customer acquisition over revenue growth--which makes defense of such a complaint problematic.
Yahoo!, on the other hand, recently reported it had earned $372.5 million on revenues of $1.08 billion for the most recently concluded quarter. Prospects of a drawn-out legal imbroglio, therefore, wouldn't seem to threaten Yahoo!'s well-being. Some industry sources have even speculated the lawsuit suggests a possible first step toward overtures by Yahoo! to buy out the gaming start-up.
How will David fare against Goliath in this case? GameSpot will keep you posted.
how about you guys just reference your own articles and call them recursive?
Note to self: No more arguing with the faithful.
...Slashdot sues itself for post-infringement.
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Well, then Gamespy is guilty. Buddy Tracker and Chat system. Integrated (if you are subscribed)
So is Steam. Buddy system and Chat system. (integrated)
So are half-a-dozen other serverbrowsers that have a buddy list.
What a stupid patent! This is why patents should not be allowed to exist in software.
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
This, for once, seems like one of those rare cases where a boycott could work. Nobody's actually going to boycott Microsoft or the RIAA, and each of those has so many customers even if a bunch did leave they wouldn't care. Yahoo can't afford to have its customers leaving quite so much, and it might well be possible to talk people into dropping their use of yahoo based on displeasure with a decision to compete in the courts rather than the marketplace-- after all, it isn't like anyone will *really* miss Literati.
What do you think?
Oh you mean, kind of like when you join IRC and you say "hey John, you're there? how about we go on Playsite for a nice game of gin eh?"
I was doing that (or some version of that, before Playsite was around) for at least a decade. Which leads to the following questions:
Does is look like prior art or what?
Since I'm not particularly bright for having "invented" that method, and everybody and their dogs has been doing it forever because it's freaking obvious, does this patent look like yet another something-that-I-may-sue-someone-over-in-the-futur e patent application?
Shouldn't they replace the monkeys at the USPTO by humans at some point?
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
Person A: You know what this article is? ...Repeat.
Person B: Repeat.
A: You know what this article is?
B: Repeat.
A: You know what this article is?
B:
A: You know what this article is?
B: You know who is in the bathroom?
A: No, Who is on first.
[person B stabs person A]
CURTAIN LOWERS
~FIN~
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They still do. People with accounts at FICS or ICC and you can choose to be notified when a buddy signs on.
I'd call that prior art.
permit 'buddies' to know when other 'buddies' are playing games online
Is there anything to permit 'editors' to know when other 'editors' are posting articles online?
Let this be a lesson to anyone who thinks big companies will only use patents "defensively". I guess defending the company from competition is part of defensive patent strategy.
Duplicate post - even in the same thread. ;)
Has anyone considered a lawsuit against the USPTO for issuing frivolous patents, hence necessitating enormous legal costs for the patent "infringers"?
It seems to me that the answer to all of these nightmare software patent cases stem from a single root-cause: The USPTO and its eager use of the "Patent Approved" stamp.
Furthermore, the USPTO has many internal processes which incentivize approval of patents. This culture of easy patenting costs small businesses and consumers billions -- and reduces natural competition.
Has anyone ever sued or thought of suing the USPTO?
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"Why isn't there a frivolous patent infringment classification?"
Motion to Dismiss or Motion for Summary Judgment are two ways to get the case taken care of early. Both still require a fair amount of work, because the courts tend not to take someone's word for it that the case is "frivolous." But still, that's how the truely frivolous cases get disposed of -- dismissal or summary judgment.
"That's not even wrong..." -- Wolfgang Pauli
...starting with the fucktard who approved this patent, and following up with the cunt who approved this one.
Can anybody tell me who was the [beep] who labelled this "offtopic"? It's TFA text! And signed as AC (no karma whoring).
(note: It wasn't me who posted it, just in case you thought)
As an x user of yahoo instant messanger and a current x-fire user, I see no grounds for yahoo to be suing. Surely someone who has a patent on a toothpick cannot sue someone who builds and sells toothpick houses...the houses are a different product all together.
X-Fire has way more features than Yahoo! messenger and is way more useful for "in game" chat.
For example, while I am playing Call of Duty Multiplayer and someone talks to me on xfire a small unobtrusive box appears near the bottom of my screen telling me that someone is talking to me. I can then hit scr lk + x and reply to them without exiting or "windowing" my game. The Yahoo! Messenger program would ruin the brightness setting of my game, temporarily pause my play and THEN require me to either exit or window the game in order to read the message.
These Yahoo! inconviences along with the fact that Yahoo! Messenger does NOT support hundreds of online games that are not their own creation, leave me thinking that X-Fire has improved upon Yahoo's system of doing things at least enough to avoid a lawsuit.
**(all this and I'm not a lawyer?)**
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