Activision Sued Over Online Multiplayer in Call of Duty, WoW
- Thread starter Tom Goldman
- Start date
Dedicated servers have been around a long time. I know they existed when I played Unreal Tournament in 1999. I pretty sure they hit during the QuakeWorld Era. But a lot of this was happening on the fan side of things.Starke said:
Sort of like how after the Saints won the Super-Bowl, the NFL decided they owned the rights to "Who Dat", which was a rallying cry that came from the fans, not the team. If your main innovation was taking what already existed and putting your name on it, then you didn't create anything.
I bolded the part that made NO sense whatsoever. Rednecks are in a reather small area. Not all americans are... And I don't think the stereotypical "Redneck hill billy" you're thinking of is considered smart enough to talk down about the government wasting their tax money.Serris said:
But I'm in Canada, and this doens't look like anything. It IS another ridiculous american lawsuit
^This. Honestly, why is this bullshit allowed to be patented? It's a basic idea at the core of just about any game with multiplayer, patenting it is like saying you patent the idea of using a programing language to create a program.Super Toast said:
Why isn't there a clause in the law that allows people filing frivolous and obviously ridiculous lawsuits to be smacked in the face and told "bad!"?
"a method and a system for a distributed electronic tournament system in which many remotely located players participate in a tournament through input/output devices connected to a central controller which manages the tournament."
as i understand it, is that not the Matchmaking system?
as i understand it, is that not the Matchmaking system?
Of course, if they did indeed patent online tourments, then nearly every damned online game is at risk.
I will sue you if i ever get Skin Cancer.treeboy027 said:
I'll definitely be suing her ass if i get skin cancer! And im not joking if she is seriousFormless12 said:
Sorry, but the fact that the company only names some of the most successful gaming business in the last 3 years as it's defendants, rather than everyone who is violating their supposed 'patent' just screams to me they're money grubbing bastards, even more evil than the people they're suing!
Okay, let me explain something here, since a lot of people seem to have the wrong impression.
One of the key principles of intellectual properties is the idea for inventors to patent their ideas so they get credit for them, and other, bigger companies can't come along and steal their work, or develop (even through self-discovery) something that someone else had the idea for first. One big thing that is done with patents is people will patent ideas that they do not have the money to develop themselves and then shop around to find businesses who will come up with the money to do so, with the patent holder taking a substantial share of the profits. Things can be patented ahead of the tech curve, based on predictions of upcoming technologies and ways it could be used, again this is part of invention, and the idea being that if someone develops a tech can do something, they can then sell this idea for a way to use it.
I admit that I do not like where this is going either in this case, being a fan of WoW and online gaming. However, put yourselves in the shoes of an inventor with someone else coming along and stealing your idea, and then getting away with it because they are a big company.
An issue with patent violations of this sort also have to do with the specifics of how something is done. Being able to prove that something like "WoW" or "Call Of Duty" violated a long standing patent is not an easy thing to do because it can involve getting to the bottom of how something works, or what principle it operates on. Other copyright laws and liscencing agreements can make it difficult to get information about products and trade secrets behind them without breaking laws.
There is a substantial differance between putting a patent on something like "air" or something that previously existed, and a technological development or an idea.
Understand also that "online gaming" and these kinds of tournament systems are not some kind of long term part of human culture or metaconsciousness. The very idea of online gaming, virtual reality, cyberspace, and even The Internet is very, very recent. This kind of stuff was the domain of science fiction not too long ago. This is something that I think a lot of kids don't really "get" in growing up with this stuff.
Taking a general science fiction concept and then saying "here is a way we could make this really work" is perfectly valid, and if someone else takes that idea without giving you your cut for being there first, well that's a problem.
Now, I have no idea how this will play out in court, or the truth of the matter, since there just isn't that much information. However with all the griping I do about China's "robber economy" and patent violations and the like I can hardly claim that makers of online games I play should be immune to the same basic logic just because they are American and I like their product.
There is a danger here that if this is 100% legitimate that it could put Blizzard-Activision almost entirely out of business and wreck a lot of hugely profitable intellectual properties. That will blow chips for us, the gamers, but it won't change the fact that the guys getting hit were effectively thieves, or at least sloppy enough not to do their homework.
It could also be patent trolling, again there is no way to tell at this stage and with the information presented.
Honestly I've had some concerns even domestically that it's become too easy for the big businesses to do whatever they want, and effectively steam roll the little guys and the innovators whenever it becomes conveinent. If they really did come up with this tech back in 2002 and it was either stolen, or developed without the research, I am sort of cheering for them. I mean one of the thing that crushes innovation is the exploitation of the innovators.
One of the key principles of intellectual properties is the idea for inventors to patent their ideas so they get credit for them, and other, bigger companies can't come along and steal their work, or develop (even through self-discovery) something that someone else had the idea for first. One big thing that is done with patents is people will patent ideas that they do not have the money to develop themselves and then shop around to find businesses who will come up with the money to do so, with the patent holder taking a substantial share of the profits. Things can be patented ahead of the tech curve, based on predictions of upcoming technologies and ways it could be used, again this is part of invention, and the idea being that if someone develops a tech can do something, they can then sell this idea for a way to use it.
I admit that I do not like where this is going either in this case, being a fan of WoW and online gaming. However, put yourselves in the shoes of an inventor with someone else coming along and stealing your idea, and then getting away with it because they are a big company.
An issue with patent violations of this sort also have to do with the specifics of how something is done. Being able to prove that something like "WoW" or "Call Of Duty" violated a long standing patent is not an easy thing to do because it can involve getting to the bottom of how something works, or what principle it operates on. Other copyright laws and liscencing agreements can make it difficult to get information about products and trade secrets behind them without breaking laws.
There is a substantial differance between putting a patent on something like "air" or something that previously existed, and a technological development or an idea.
Understand also that "online gaming" and these kinds of tournament systems are not some kind of long term part of human culture or metaconsciousness. The very idea of online gaming, virtual reality, cyberspace, and even The Internet is very, very recent. This kind of stuff was the domain of science fiction not too long ago. This is something that I think a lot of kids don't really "get" in growing up with this stuff.
Taking a general science fiction concept and then saying "here is a way we could make this really work" is perfectly valid, and if someone else takes that idea without giving you your cut for being there first, well that's a problem.
Now, I have no idea how this will play out in court, or the truth of the matter, since there just isn't that much information. However with all the griping I do about China's "robber economy" and patent violations and the like I can hardly claim that makers of online games I play should be immune to the same basic logic just because they are American and I like their product.
There is a danger here that if this is 100% legitimate that it could put Blizzard-Activision almost entirely out of business and wreck a lot of hugely profitable intellectual properties. That will blow chips for us, the gamers, but it won't change the fact that the guys getting hit were effectively thieves, or at least sloppy enough not to do their homework.
It could also be patent trolling, again there is no way to tell at this stage and with the information presented.
Honestly I've had some concerns even domestically that it's become too easy for the big businesses to do whatever they want, and effectively steam roll the little guys and the innovators whenever it becomes conveinent. If they really did come up with this tech back in 2002 and it was either stolen, or developed without the research, I am sort of cheering for them. I mean one of the thing that crushes innovation is the exploitation of the innovators.
So, let us assume for a moment that you win ... congratulations, you just took on the world's largest computer game company, but wait ...
There's a bunch of other games out there that also use online multiplayer ... you are now going to have to sue the owners of the Battlefield, Medal of Honor, and Command and Conquer franchises: EA Games ...
But wait - there's more!
Sue them, and next time you turn around you are going to have to sue the owners of what is one of the more popular online FPS franchises - the Halo Series! Owned by, who else, but Microsoft Corp! (I hear Bill gets a bit cranky this time of year)
Finally, sue within the next 5 minutes, and we'll throw in Sony for free!
And, as a part of this special TV offer, we'll even throw Lord of the Rings Online your way ... normally not a great deal, but when you realize it's owned by Warner Bros. ...
---------------------------------------------------
By the way, I patent the strong molecular force.
There's a bunch of other games out there that also use online multiplayer ... you are now going to have to sue the owners of the Battlefield, Medal of Honor, and Command and Conquer franchises: EA Games ...
But wait - there's more!
Sue them, and next time you turn around you are going to have to sue the owners of what is one of the more popular online FPS franchises - the Halo Series! Owned by, who else, but Microsoft Corp! (I hear Bill gets a bit cranky this time of year)
Finally, sue within the next 5 minutes, and we'll throw in Sony for free!
And, as a part of this special TV offer, we'll even throw Lord of the Rings Online your way ... normally not a great deal, but when you realize it's owned by Warner Bros. ...
---------------------------------------------------
By the way, I patent the strong molecular force.
