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EFF Attacks Online Gaming Patent

Posted by Zonk on from the foundation-smash dept.

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "The EFF is attacking more bogus patents. This time they're going after the 'method and system of playing games on a network' which covers tournament ladders, online rankings and advertisements. The patent in question has already been asserted against a number of small companies who know that licensing it is cheaper than litigating. Ars Technica's coverage mentions that Netrek looks like a good source of prior art. 'Netrek, an online multiplayer game with origins in the mid 1980s, makes use of much of the same technology described in Goldberg's patent. Much of the code for Netrek is open source, and its development is archived online; the source code was first posted to Usenet in late 1989. The EFF has also documented other instances of prior art with the assistance of students at the Cyberlaw Clinic at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School.'"

7 of 126 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Netrek!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Yeah, Netrek was great.. Last time I tried to play I couldn't find any servers with more than 1 or 2 people playing.

    I wish there was a Nintendo DS client for it (and people actually playing it).

  2. Make the patent granter liable. by Thanshin · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Patent granters should pay for damage done by granting frivolous patents.

    Further discussion about that, here.

  3. EFF vs Internet Fax Patents by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I hope the EFF eventually turns to take down the patents locking up Internet faxing. Practically all regular telephone features are available in FOSS software (like Asterisk and better) that let people start up "telcos" to compete with the big ones for very little startup money and basic development time. All except Internet faxing, which J2 (formerly JFax) has locked up with patents.

    Those fax patents are bogus. But destroying them would cost something like $millions which is more than any of its single licensees has to pay, so individuals just license it because that's cheaper.

    If the EFF could organize potential licensees to fund an EFF suit to eliminate the bogus patent, it would free up Internet faxing for everyone. Which would mean that there would no longer be that single exception to "telephone service" that requries cutting in a patent extortionist. Which would mean FOSS Internet faxing SW could get development the way the rest of telephony has. Which would mean complete telcos could be started up without the costs and barriers that still keeps it an exclusive club for AT&T, Verizon and occasional VC funded "little giants" like Vonage.

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    make install -not war

    1. Re:EFF vs Internet Fax Patents by Solandri · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Reading some of your links, it sounds like J2 has already been challenged and defeated in court.

  4. Snipes by NullProg · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Back in the mid-80's when I was a BOFH we used to play snipes on Netware 2.11.

    Snipes (diminutive for Snipers) is a text-mode networked computer game that was created in 1983 by SuperSet software. Snipes is officially credited as being the original inspiration for Novell NetWare. [2]

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snipes

    Enjoy,

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    It's just the normal noises in here.
  5. Re:Prior art? by Loski · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Mrxak The patent office is overburdened with prior art searches that must be conducted in a relatively short window of time. The current turnaround time on a patent application is 44 months, I believe the patent office will be rolling out a wiki-style patent community in which you would be able to contribute to the patent office's search for prior art and ultimately see a turnaround time of 7 months. Obviously, you would only be inclined to do so if you were deeply passionate/vested in a particular field of industry. Also, how would you go about hiring experts for emerging technologies, business proceses, and non-obvious uses? Its a bit tougher than it seems.

  6. Not the first time Netrek used as prior art by Unbeliever · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Several of us in the Netrek community consulted with a set of patent defense lawyers back in 2000 to use Netrek as prior art to kill Patent number 5,822,523 claims 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6, which also killed 6018766 I think.

    http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5822523.html

    I didn't get involved in consulting for the Goldberg patent, but I did in 2000. Had a few long face to face meetings with the defense's lawyers, showed them the game, did a technical presentation, presented a few packet logs, and got a few free meals out of it. From that, they understood the claims well enough that they got the appropriate declarations from the appropriate original developers.

    The result of which the defense submitted a motion to declare the claims invalid, and the judge had a draft ruling granting the motion and was about to issue a final ruling, but the plaintiffs either dropped the case, or settled out of court. The parties were Lipstream vs. HearMe. (Lipstream were the defendants, HearMe the plaintiffs)

    I have a PDF copy of the ruling somewhere in my archives. It used to be on netrek.org, but got dropped in a recent site-move and redesign.

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    --Carlos V.