Patent Troll Ready to Sue World of Warcraft, Second Life
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
- Start date
This is why I'm a card carrying member of the Pirate party.
For the right price, I will take anyone to Texas to this guys house. I'm sure all you'll want to do is chat with him, right?
For the right price, I will take anyone to Texas to this guys house. I'm sure all you'll want to do is chat with him, right?
People can sue for anything these days, a convicted murderer sued a jail guard because he laughed at him when he broke his fingernail, he said it caused emotional damage, and he won! If this goes thru and World.com wins, then people won't be making mmogs anymore!
This is absolutely ridiculous.
They should make a law that if a lawsuit is found to be frivolous, the lawyers should be fined a percentage of the level of stupid. I tell ya, that would stop a lot of shit from wasting the justice system's time. And, more importantly, it would make me feel better. ;-)
They should make a law that if a lawsuit is found to be frivolous, the lawyers should be fined a percentage of the level of stupid. I tell ya, that would stop a lot of shit from wasting the justice system's time. And, more importantly, it would make me feel better. ;-)
There is no way this patent is enforceable. William Gibson had "The Net" in his novels way back in the 80s, I also remember reading many other cyberpunk genre novels with this concept dating back to the late 70s and early 80s. If they win, these authors could sue for copyright infringement too. Besides that, if you don't sue to protect your patent within a certain amount of months of discovering the infringement, they dismiss the case and there is simply no way these people have never heard of EQ or WoW.
Am I the only person who thinks this could be a positive thing if, by some strange act of god, he succeeds?
Think about it. Guy's demanding licensing fees from MMO creators. Wouldn't that effectively result in fewer awful MMOs being made due to small-time companies not wanting to cough up the cash? The bigwigs won't feel a thing from this, and they can carry on making their hugely profitable MMOs.
I really don't see the downside. Sure, one worthless little ass becomes mightily rich, but that happens every day.
Think about it. Guy's demanding licensing fees from MMO creators. Wouldn't that effectively result in fewer awful MMOs being made due to small-time companies not wanting to cough up the cash? The bigwigs won't feel a thing from this, and they can carry on making their hugely profitable MMOs.
I really don't see the downside. Sure, one worthless little ass becomes mightily rich, but that happens every day.
Blizzard, if you read this then her me out: Accept the nut-jobs court case, put it on py per view and then collect money, both from the viewers and from him for wasting your time.
Seriously who does he think he is going to beat?
To the person who said to kick out Texas then I will quote Vice City "I say we build a river...." (even though I'm not American)
Seriously who does he think he is going to beat?
To the person who said to kick out Texas then I will quote Vice City "I say we build a river...." (even though I'm not American)
The problem is the dangerous precedent this sets regarding patent. Doesn't matter if you do nothing with a patent or can't demonstrate that you actually used it for the purposes of developing something, as long as you hold it you can get licensing for it.Nunka said:
Worlds.com's inaction is not the fault of MMO developers, it's Worlds.com's. If the MMO industry was a giant money sink with no profit I highly doubt this suit would have ever been created.
*has confused look on face*
what now?
I'm confused.
So they are suing them for patent infringement...lemme think a sec here. 1995...2009...14 years.....yeah i guess they can...
...I'll go activate the Psychic Beacon again...
what now?
I'm confused.
So they are suing them for patent infringement...lemme think a sec here. 1995...2009...14 years.....yeah i guess they can...
...I'll go activate the Psychic Beacon again...
A little fact checking: patent was filed on November 12, 1996, a little late for 95.
The patent in question. [http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6,219,045.PN.&OS=PN/6,219,045&RS=PN/6,219,045]
The patent in question. [http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6,219,045.PN.&OS=PN/6,219,045&RS=PN/6,219,045]
Thankyou Deadly Yellow for looking that up. A warning to all: the important bit is the section marked "Claims". THis is the bit that our man has to use to prove that the MMO's are in breach.
Now, I think it's worth reiterating the bit of the original story where our sue-happy chappy IS NOT the inventor. The reason he's suing now s because he recently aquired the company that filed the patent way back. He has not sat on it till the time was oppertune, and neither have they as such- I think it's pretty obvious they decided not to bother, as after all they were providing a service to sick kids and didn't have the finacial/legal muscle to do anything. So stop getting your panties in a twist, kiddies.
Anyway, the Claims section is the most important part of the Patent. It explains, in the most horrible legalese, what exactly the patent covers. The defence will try and prove that one or more of those claims is invalidated by prior art. As discused, there's the grounding for a good case there, but then lawyers are involved, and also potentially a non-expert jury.
Patents are horrible. They restrict innovation. They makes life-saving drugs more expensive- but the drug companies argue the patents essentially pay for the research. In my field, it's not uncommon to take out a patent just to stop the competition doing the same thing for twenty years, and then not actually use it- everyone knows what's patented, but can't act. There's good tech locked down in blocking patents, just because it isn't in the marketing strategy of the company that holds it.
Then, when you now you might potentially infringe, trying to figure out if you really do is hellish, thanks to the sort of langauge on display there.
However, patents are fantastic for helping encourage innovation in capitalist society. They drive industrial research forward. Anyone with a better suggestion may step forward.
Forming an angry mob outside a courtroom in Texas will not change thing.
However, please do. What could be funnier on the news than a bunch of angry pasty WoW geeks with placards?
Now, I think it's worth reiterating the bit of the original story where our sue-happy chappy IS NOT the inventor. The reason he's suing now s because he recently aquired the company that filed the patent way back. He has not sat on it till the time was oppertune, and neither have they as such- I think it's pretty obvious they decided not to bother, as after all they were providing a service to sick kids and didn't have the finacial/legal muscle to do anything. So stop getting your panties in a twist, kiddies.
Anyway, the Claims section is the most important part of the Patent. It explains, in the most horrible legalese, what exactly the patent covers. The defence will try and prove that one or more of those claims is invalidated by prior art. As discused, there's the grounding for a good case there, but then lawyers are involved, and also potentially a non-expert jury.
Patents are horrible. They restrict innovation. They makes life-saving drugs more expensive- but the drug companies argue the patents essentially pay for the research. In my field, it's not uncommon to take out a patent just to stop the competition doing the same thing for twenty years, and then not actually use it- everyone knows what's patented, but can't act. There's good tech locked down in blocking patents, just because it isn't in the marketing strategy of the company that holds it.
Then, when you now you might potentially infringe, trying to figure out if you really do is hellish, thanks to the sort of langauge on display there.
However, patents are fantastic for helping encourage innovation in capitalist society. They drive industrial research forward. Anyone with a better suggestion may step forward.
Forming an angry mob outside a courtroom in Texas will not change thing.
However, please do. What could be funnier on the news than a bunch of angry pasty WoW geeks with placards?