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3D Games Patent Threatens Industry?

Posted by Zonk on from the i-don't-think-this-is-going-to-fly dept.

Castar writes "Recently Advanced Video Graphics (AVG) sued several game publishers for infringing on their patent on "Method and Apparatus for Spherical Panning". Since this affects almost every 3D video game, the International Game Developers Association sent out a call for prior art in their monthly newsletter. An industry lawyer has also done an overview of the issue here. I would think lots of CAD software produced before 1983 would invalidate the patent."

5 of 76 comments (clear)

  1. Remember when... by czarangelus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Remember back when patents were used to stimulate researchg and development, rather than to emasculate it?

    Neither do I, I'm only 22.

    --
    When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.
  2. Movie 'Tron' by El_Muerte_TDS · · Score: 4, Informative

    The movie Tron released in 1982 contains a shit load of 3D rendered stuff. They used existing products to render the 3D things, these products where commonly used to design technical things.

    One of the companies involved was MAGI Synthavision: http://accad.osu.edu/~waynec/history/tree/magi.htm l

    Does that qualify as prior art?

  3. Re:Patents are really out of hand. by shaitand · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think that patents should require a working physical invention be sent to he patent office again.

    To fix the warehousing problem they simply do not keep the inventions, instead they keep a series of digital images on each device that can be reviewed later.

    Damn, too bad you couldn't patent software anymore if you had to send a physical invention eh?

  4. A solution to stupid patents by Henry+V+.009 · · Score: 4, Funny

    My solution is to start making the government pay damages when it grants a stupid and economically damaging patent. It could pay for said damages by with a special tax on patent lawyers.

  5. What I remember by MarkusQ · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I have nothing at this point (I'm working outside the US at this moment, I don't even have my notes) but it shouldn't be to hard to dig up again. Pre-google (Alta-vista + brick & mortar library) search took about a day.

    Here's what I recall off the top of my head:

    • Pretty much every projection to/from a sphere is known art to cartographers, and has been for many decades. Look in a few old cartography books.
    • Likewise, the math behind them (called projective geometry) is old hat. We found a projective geometry book from 1900 or so that spelled out the transform
    • Artists in the 1800s or so used to do paintings (called anamorphoses, IIRC) that not only used the same tricks but for exactly the same purpose. It may go back much further, but (again, IIRC) the really compelling photos we found were from work in the mid 1800s.
    Anyone who wants to is welcome to run with this, expand on it, and pass it on to anyone that it might help.

    --MarkusQ

    P.S. One further thing I recall, the laywer asked them something like "could you please specify what your patent covers--it obviously can't be the mathematics, and it can't be the technique san math, so...?"