Slashdot Mirror
Worlds.com To Extend Virtual World Lawsuit To Second Life, WoW
FiveRings writes "BusinessInsider has a story about Worlds.com, a company that inherited the patent on virtual worlds from the Starlight Starbright Foundation and is taking it to court against NCSoft over the company's various MMOs. If successful, he will press on and sue the makers of Second Life and World of Warcraft as well. The article notes that the NCSoft case is being held in east Texas, which has been a favorable venue for patent trolls in the past."
I'm going to sue God because I came up with the concept of 4-dimensional space-time.
Someone needs to patent the patent troll business model and sue this guy for infringement.
Blizzard makes a few handy billion per year. I imagine they could front a defense that would make the SCO epic look like a parking infringement notice.
Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
Already been done.
United States Patent Application - 20080270152 - October 30, 2008
http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/search-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=20080270152&OS=20080270152&RS=20080270152
Patent Acquisition and Assertion by a (Non-Inventor) First Party Against a Second Party
Abstract
Methods for a first party to acquire and assert a patent property against a second party are disclosed. The methods include obtaining an equity interest in the patent property. The methods further include writing a claim within the scope of the patent property. The claim is written to cover a product of the second party where the product includes a secret aspect. The methods further include filing the claim with a patent office. The methods sometimes include offering a license of the patent property to the second party after the patent property issues as a patent with the claim. The methods sometimes include asserting infringement of the claim by the second party after the patent property issues as a patent with the claim. The methods sometimes include negotiating a cross-license with the second party based on the assertion of infringement of the claim, where under the cross-license the first party obtains a license to an intellectual property right from the second party. The methods sometime include attempting to obtain a monetary settlement from the second party based on the assertion of infringement of the claim.
New raid instance in 3.1: Fortress of Zul'Enseesoft.
In the heart of the desert wasteland of Tek Saas, the foreboding fortress looms. Balanced for teams of 10 to 25 players, this raid offers dynamic legal battles, devious new patent challenges and exciting new loot!
Example Loot:
[Attaché Case of Litigation]
Off Hand Briefcase
Increases intellect by 52
Decreases social conscience by 22
"This case looks expensive"
[The Mighty Pen]
One Hand Dagger
Increases writer's strike by 28
On use: Wraps target in red tape, immobilizing them for 4 seconds.
"This pen is very sharp."
Rampant carbon sequestration destroyed the Dinosaurs' tropical paradise. I'm here to help repair the damage.
IANAL, but I can't see where rattling your saber at a couple of big dogs while suing the small fish isn't begging to have some timely amicus briefs filed by the opposition.
I'm pretty sure that's why the more successful patent trolls get a bunch of smaller cases on the books as precedent before going after the guys with real money.
Imagine this happening to WoW. Now, imagine Blizzard deciding to say "ok, we'll withdraw from the US market. Btw, dear folks who have been playing for 5+ years now and lose everything that's dear to you, THIS is the company that made us shut down. Maybe you find something creative to do with your life".
Who said mob rule has to be a bad thing?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Patent filed in Aug 3 2000. Prior art in the form of launched MMORPGs: Dec 31 1996 The Realm Online Sep 30 1997 Ultima Online Sep ?? 1998 Lineage: The Blood Pledge Mar 16 1999 Everquest Oct 31 1999 Asheron's Call Source: http://www.mmogchart.com/analysis-and-conclusions/
I thought I had stumbled into another gamer's nightmare (I have them often)....
Lead Attorney for the Plaintiff: Your Honor, I intend to prove that NCSoft has intentionally, and willfully, violated the....
Lead Attorney for NCSoft: FUCK YOU!!
Lead Attorney for the Plaintiff: Your Honor! I must strenuously object!
Your Honor: Fuck you!
It seems one man's nightmare can be another man's wetdream......
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverwinter_Nights_(AOL_game)
Neverwinter Nights, the first graphical MMORPG, had all the elements most modern ones have (though far cruder of course), ran from 1991 to 1997.
There are, of course MUD's far older than that which were persistent worlds.
Corporatism != Free Market
Reading their patent claims, they're patent is VERY broad and IMO pretty obvious.
It's basically saying that the client passes avatar location and heading to the server, and the server passes the info on all other nearby characters back to the clients. Thinking about the problem for a couple seconds, you should be able to determine that it MUST work this way.
Any MMO game with a central server pretty much has no option other to work this way.
------
End software patents!
The problem is that IP is like the One Ring. You can fight off one army of lawyers, but then many years later another picks it out of the battlefield and starts the cycle again. Like the One Ring IP always corrupts those who seek to use it. There's no "Mt. Doom" for IP to actually go to die.
Worlds.com (or worlds.net) isn't a patent troll, like Caldera (who bought SCO before they started suing).
I remember participating in Worlds.com back in 1996. How many of your precious 3D MMO environments existed then?
http://web.archive.org/web/19961108105356/www.worlds.net/news/press_releases/press-101.html
I think many of you are reacting emotionally to any threat against your favorite current games. But please do a little research before the name calling. As much as I disagree with intellectual property and software patents, this one is at least slightly more legitimate than most.
Holding the case in East Texas? Check.
Sat on the patent for at least five years? Check.
Suing over a patent that is obvious enough for multiple entities to independently and simultaneously develop? Check.
Testing the waters with the little guys first? Check.
Walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and looks like a duck. Or in this case patent troll.
How much was your check for astroturfing?
I like it when companies pursuing litigation of this sort try to attack the largest companies first. Know why? Small companies will often have to settle because they can't afford to fight the suit. Once you sue the two largest vendors, suddenly there is a whole lot of money behind the defense. With Blizzard now part of the lawsuit, I suspect Worlds.com is gonna get beat down in the court room. Even if they are not, it won't be just because the defendents didn't have enough money to mount a defense. If they win, it is more likely that there was some kind of legal merit to their suit (not necessarily guaranteed, mind you, but at least the case should be rigorously challenged by decent defense lawyers).