Gaikai Faces Patent Infringement Lawsuit

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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Gaikai Faces Patent Infringement Lawsuit


T5 Labs claims that Gaikai is infringing upon its patent for "Sharing a Graphical Processing Unit Between a Plurality of Programs."

In a complaint filed last week, Delaware-based T5 Labs [http://www.t5labs.com/] claimed that cloud gaming company Gaikai is infringing upon U.S. Patent No. 8,203,568, otherwise known as "the '568 patent," to which it holds the exclusive license. Gaikai not only "actively, knowingly and intentionally induces infringement" of the patent, according to the claim, but also "contributed to the infringement by others, including the end users of Gaikai's GPU cloud" by continuing to offer its product even though it is aware of the infringement upon T5's patent.

The suit claims that Gaikai has been issued written notice of its infringement, which it has presumably disregarded, and that as a result, "T5 has suffered and will continue to suffer damages in an amount to be proved at trial." As usual, the suit seeks damages, interest, costs, legal fees and whatever else the court deems just and proper.

The complaint echoes T5's run-in with Gaikai competitor OnLive in February 2011, when it claimed it had been issued a patent that predated the one held by OnLive and said it was "considering its legal rights" and whether to pursue legal action against the company. OnLive recently collapsed under the weight of its debts, but Gaikai was acquired by Sony in July for a whopping $380 million.

Sources: VentureBeat [http://www.scribd.com/doc/109103387/T5-Labs-v-Gaikai]


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snekadid

Lord of the Salt
Mar 29, 2012
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Wait wait wait. Is this saying T5 has a patent on the concept of cloud gaming?
 

newwiseman

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Aug 27, 2010
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If I had access to a time machine I'd beat whoever allowed software to be patented with a heavy blunt object.
 

TheMadJack

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Apr 6, 2010
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newwiseman said:
If I had access to a time machine I'd beat whoever allowed software to be patented with a heavy blunt object.
If you do come to have access to a time machine please contact me; I'll bring a chainsaw.

Patents should NOT be allowed on IDEAS.
 

Zombie_Moogle

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Dec 25, 2008
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My boss just got through a patent-related legal case, & let me tell you: ALL patent law should be scrapped & rewritten. It's not just overly-broad or poorly written, it's flat-out nonsensical!
 

NLS

Norwegian Llama Stylist
Jan 7, 2010
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t5 labs has no press articles, no existing products, and as far as I can tell, nothing beyond just a concept stage. Yet they filed the patent 10 years ago, and have so far managed to do.... NOTHING. The one and only product of this company doesn't even exist.
This is just wrong. Hell, 6 years ago I foresaw how it would be possible to just relay the gaming process from a remote server to a desktop, providing that the internet connections of the future would be able to handle it properly. Apparently, using that idea beyond any point than my own imagination would then be "patent infringement" because somewhere and someone thought of a slightly similar idea, yet never did a shit about it.
 

RhombusHatesYou

Surreal Estate Agent
Mar 21, 2010
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TheMadJack said:
Patents should NOT be allowed on IDEAS.
The US patent system is horribly broken and open to abuse... and if you think what goes on with patent trolling in the software sector is bad you should see what's been going on in the biotech sector.
 

GTwander

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Mar 26, 2008
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Goddamn it, another fucking lawsuit by scandalous assholes.

If the IEEE decided to patent (and subsequently sue) over any of the standards it sets, we'd all get sent back to the dark ages.

Capcha: garden of eden.
Seriously, even capcha knows how far we'd devolve.
 

Doom-Slayer

Ooooh...I has custom title.
Jul 18, 2009
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Foolproof said:
$50 says people on this site will begin supporting the patent trolls once they realize that Sony own Gaikai.
To be fair, patent trolls are right up there at being hated like EA.

OT: Patents this vague are stupid..the people that argue with them are stupid and overall the patent system based on recent events seems to be pretty stupid.

OTOT: US really does need and overhaul on that system
 

MeChaNiZ3D

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Aug 30, 2011
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How is sharing a GPU between multiple programs a patentable idea. What stops people from just getting up in the morning and going "I know...I'll patent travel that takes place at close to or the speed of light!" or "Elevators that go diagonally" or "A device that allows travel through time at an altered rate" or "A system whereby the user play a videogame without a controller or motion sensors", and cripple the future of humanity? That is a f***ing troll patent if ever I've seen one. You should have to actually have a product (at least a hypothetical one) before patenting a concept.
 

TheMadJack

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MeChaNiZ3D said:
That is a f***ing troll patent if ever I've seen one. You should have to actually have a product (at least a hypothetical one) before patenting a concept.
Exactly! Anything before that is a "potential for a patent". Until then it shouldn't be applicable.

In short, if you can't build a working prototype, a library or whatever it's null and remain a concept which you can't protect.

CAPTCHA:
come what may

Would be much better than what's in place.
 

Baresark

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Dec 19, 2010
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LoL, this is stupid ridiculous. That is like Target suing Walmart because they also have checkout counters. Or Dominoes for Pizza Hut for selling Pizza. This could potentially apply to any game that is run outside an end users system, such as any F2P games such as League of Legends.

Edit: I love the use of "knowingly" in the paper work. They most likely didn't know because the idea is ridiculous and would never be researched. Fun fact, they knowing made all of their end users guilty of patent infringement, meaning that if you use Gaikai, you are also guilty.

Edit2: Folding@home accomplices are also guilty of this, as they borrow your GPU to run several instances of simulated protein folding. Can't cure any diseases if it infringes on these guys patents, haha. They can't claim infringement and protect their patent if they don't defend it from everyone who is doing it afterall.
 

evilneko

Fall in line!
Jun 16, 2011
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Gaikai was the purveyor of those java ads that appeared on this site a while back.

I hope they go down in flames.