Mojang, Square Enix, EA and Others Sued For Patent Infringement

The Wooster

King Snap
Jul 15, 2008
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Mojang, Square Enix, EA and Others Sued For Patent Infringement


A small Texas-based company alleges that "Mindcraft" infringes on one of its many patents.

A company named Uniloc, which describes itself as "in the business of finding big ideas," has filed a suit against Minecraft developer, Mojang, claiming the Android edition of Mindcraft [sic] infringes on one of its patents. Similar suits have been leveled against EA, Square Enix and Gameloft.

The patent in question was filed in 2005, and is for "a system and method ... for preventing unauthorized access to electronic data stored on an electronic device." The vague patent, along with Uniloc's long history of patent litigation and its base in Texas (where state laws favor patent owners) have led many to label the company a "patent troll."

Mojang founder, Markus "Notch" Persson, is certainly unimpressed. He announced the lawsuit via an irreverent tweet [https://twitter.com/notch/status/226603785504579584] and went on to state that Mojang would be facing down Uniloc on principle.

"Unfortunately for them, they're suing us over a software patent," he tweeted. [https://twitter.com/notch/status/226604081932812288] "If needed, I will throw piles of money at making sure they don't get a cent."

Uniloc belongs to one, Ric "The Man in the Van" Richardson, an Australian inventor who, and I quote, "does much of his thinking in his van, which he dubs the 'DickMobile,' near his leafy property in Byron Bay." [http://www.smh.com.au/technology/biz-tech/one-man-v-microsoft-a-day-in-the-dickmobile-another-day-in-court-for-aussie-inventor-20110106-19h25.html#ixzz21JMvwKq6] If his name sounds familiar, it's because Mr. Richardson was involved in a landmark legal battle against Microsoft which eventually lead to a major change in how courts calculate reasonable damages in patent cases.

Source: Notch.net [http://notch.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/mojang.pdf] via Tech and Trend [http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/365540/20120721/minecraft-notch-mojang-lawsuit-patent-troll-software.htm]

Photo: Steve Holland

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Knoopdog

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Aug 2, 2011
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"In the business of finding big ideas"...and then suing the hell out of them, apparently.

That Notch tweet is priceless, by the way.
 

Mouse_Crouse

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Apr 28, 2010
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I am starting to think that this kind of thing should be illegal and they should be persecuted. Obviously you should be able to defend a patent, but when people are obviously just buying patents to try to sue. That should not be allowed.
 

General Twinkletoes

Suppository of Wisdom
Jan 24, 2011
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They've patented internet security programs?

What the fuck?
That shit should be illegal. You shouldn't be allowed to make a living of off suing on stupid claims, especially ones that are so vague.
 

gyroscopeboy

New member
Nov 27, 2010
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Patent law is utter bullshit.

It basically assumes that some shithead that no one cares about invented something by writing an idea down on paper, and then a giant company, who has MILLIONS of dollars in R&D just somehow found his idea and stole it.

This guy was personally awarded $15 million of the total $388 million from the microsoft suit.

With 7 billion people on the planet, chances are 2 people might be working on the same thing at roughly the same time.

The guy doesn't even create working prototypes of any of his "inventions".

I should create a patent for "button that when pressed, does everything for you" and wait for some actual company to do the work, then swoop in and take a claim.


Fuck this guy.
 

90sgamer

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Jan 12, 2012
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ITT ignorance about patent law. You can't patent vague concepts. This article is leaving out material information.

Anyway, Notch is certainly correct: he WILL throw piles of money at this. IP law is the most lucrative law. IP attorneys charge, at the bottom-medium end, around $500/hour. Patent cases go on forever. Notch could very well go Bankrupt just to win his patent. He's not worth *that* much.
 

Coolpilot

Shadow
Mar 1, 2011
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"...including, but not limited to, Mindcraft."
Wow... and they can't even spell Minecraft right.
 

TsunamiWombat

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Sep 6, 2008
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90sgamer said:
ITT ignorance about patent law. You can't patent vague concepts. This article is leaving out material information.

Anyway, Notch is certainly correct: we WILL throw piles of money at this. IP law is the most lucrative law. IP attorneys charge, at the bottom-medium end, around $500/hour. Patent cases go on forever. Notch could very well go Bankrupt just to win his patent. He's not worth *that* much.
I don't think you realize just how much money he made.

There's also the concern that Mojang is NOT a US based company. And US patent law is currently taking a drubbing for it's attempts to enforce it's will on a global level. See also, New Zealand. I wouldn't be surprised to see Sweden laugh this right out of court.
 

Brad Shepard

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Sep 9, 2009
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Its quite obvious that this guy is trying to just money from these company just settling out of court.
 

TsunamiWombat

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Sep 6, 2008
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Brad Shepard said:
Its quite obvious that this guy is trying to just money from these company just settling out of court.
That's how the system works, more or less. Even Microsoft did it, because financially, it wasn't worth it to fight him.

Mojang isn't a US company though. So i'm curious how that'll affect things.
 

RvLeshrac

This is a Forum Title.
Oct 2, 2008
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90sgamer said:
ITT ignorance about patent law. You can't patent vague concepts. This article is leaving out material information.

Anyway, Notch is certainly correct: we WILL throw piles of money at this. IP law is the most lucrative law. IP attorneys charge, at the bottom-medium end, around $500/hour. Patent cases go on forever. Notch could very well go Bankrupt just to win his patent. He's not worth *that* much.
Correction: You *SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED* to patent vague concepts.

You most certainly CAN obtain a patent for vague concepts - otherwise, IP patents would not exist. Amazon holds the "One-Click" patent, which is just "Not requiring that the user enter all of their data again when buying something." In order for that to not be a concept, it would need to patent very specific code in a specific language.
 

Shjade

Chaos in Jeans
Feb 2, 2010
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elilupe said:
If anyone can beat a patent troll incredibly hard into the dust, it's Notch.
Because he's demonstrated a knack for swinging around the legal system before? If that were the case I think his tiff with Bethesda would've gone differently.
 

rcs619

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Mar 26, 2011
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nhgfjrKi0o

I don't know how relevant it is, but this is the first thing that came to mind, lol.

Kick his ass, Notch.