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[Valnen]

This will get thrown out, because that patent could apply to every MMO ever.

Hell, it could probably apply to every online game ever.

 

[Cru Jones]

This will get thrown out, because that patent could apply to every MMO ever.

Hell, it could probably apply to every online game ever.

The reason they waited so long is that they just awarded their latest patent a month ago:

http://www.worlds.com/press-releases/Worlds_6th_patent 3-28-12.html

 

[FieryBalrog]

Patent law is a fucking joke.

 

[bengraven]

When I was 12 I came up with an idea for having a lobby connected to the internet so you could talk to friends while ingame.

I still have that piece of paper I wrote it on and the TM and date (I did that all the time because it made me feel important).

Technically I'm owed billions. I'm calling my motherfucking lawyer.

 

[Scrow]

Based on the results of the first lawsuit, Activision Blizzard may end up settling out of court. After that, who will be next on the list? Sony Online Entertainment could be a likely candidate if it's not already.

fuck everything about this

patent system is a broken cluster fuck.

 

[Rygar 8 Bit]

i patent the intake of air into ones self you all owe me a billion dollars lolololololol this is stupid

 

[Victrix]

Instead of doing anything productive with my life, the lesson here is clearly to patent anything I can think of and then sue large companies to get rich with settlement money

 

[udivision]

i patent the intake of air into ones self you all owe me a billion dollars lolololololol this is stupid

You activated my patented trap card. I... don't know what it does. Depends on how rich you are.

 

[Rygar 8 Bit]

You activated my patented trap card. I... don't know what it does. Depends on how rich you are.

crap well i uhhh block with my uncle istvan and attack you with my plague rats

 

[Jac_Solar]

What? Settling?! This is a blatant abuse of the legal system, and Activision doesn't owe them anything. I don't like Activision since they are responsible for CoD and the effect its had on gaming, but that's a different issue.

This is the equivelant of an all out threat -- give me your money, or else i'll drag you through the courts until you do. I mean, Activison and Blizz probably have their own top tier law firms, or do "Worlds, inc" have a filthy amount of money already?

Gah. Behaviour like this is so disgusting.

Whenever the patent law gets updated with some "common sense guards" (To prevent this kind of thing, what Worlds Inc are doing..), it should obviously also work retroactively and punish those who abused it so blatantly. Ie pay back all the money + standard interest + 2 years in a low security prison for the top shareholders of the world inc company.

EDIT: Wait, wait, isn't the full story that they bought this patent or something to try and put a stop to the blatant abuse of gamers that online gaming has allowed? Or did I just imagine that, perhaps at their first law suit or another similar case? Hmmm..

 

[Dead Man]

What a great patent system that is.

 

[Zomba13]

Can we launch patent trolls into the sun?

Only if it is by means of giant sling shot.

 

[Cru Jones]

Guys, I know it's fun to just jump on the band wagon but you should read this interview with he CEO where he explains exactly what the patent is. It's not just "players interacting in a 3D space" it's more specific about how it does that. Also, a Patent Troll is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_troll

a person or company who buys and enforces patents against one or more alleged infringers in a manner considered by the target or observers as unduly aggressive or opportunistic, often with no intention to further develop, manufacture or market the patented invention.

They've developed and marketed/licensed their technology to others. They are hardly patent trolls.

here is a link to the interview for anyone interested in finding out more about what's actually happening here:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngau...zard-over-world-of-warcraft-and-call-of-duty/

Can you explain in laymen’s terms what your patent covers?

Worlds Inc.’s patents cover load balancing between the user’s PC and the host server commonly known as a client/server architecture. These methods filter the number of visible avatars on the screen at one time when there are hundreds of thousands of users online simultaneously.

When Worlds’ initial patents were filed in 1995 the major constraints for multiplayer online gaming were bandwidth and PC processing power. Worlds developed methodology and techniques that allowed large numbers of users to log into the same virtual world from around the world concurrently without being locked out of the site due to reaching prefixed population limits.

In the late ‘90s users were limited to between 10 to 15 concurrent users per room and if you logged in a few minutes after your friends did, you could not play with them because the room had already reached its limit and been closed to additional users.

As the confluence of separate internet service providers (ISPs), such as Compserve, GE Net and Delphi, to name a few, evolved into the World Wide Web, the need for datastream management methods for avatars in a virtual world across different PC platforms accessing the web at varying internet speeds became a crucial problem to solve. Players wanted to play together even if they logged on at different times and expected a fluid user experience moving within graphically rich virtual environments. Worlds’ technology solved those problems.

 

[M3d10n]

Guys, I know it's fun to just jump on the band wagon but you should read this interview with he CEO where he explains exactly what the patent is. It's not just "players interacting in a 3D space" it's more specific about how it does that. Also, a Patent Troll is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_troll



They've developed and marketed/licensed their technology to others. They are hardly patent trolls.

here is a link to the interview for anyone interested in finding out more about what's actually happening here:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngau...zard-over-world-of-warcraft-and-call-of-duty/

Yes, they are still trolls, and I'll explain why:

When Thomas Edison invented the electrical light bulb, the biggest achievement was coming up with the best material for the filament. However, the filament's composition would cease to be a secret as soon as the bulbs were put on sale. The patent system protected Edison's research from being stolen by others.

With Worlds' patent, as well as most other software patents, there's little no to R&D involved. Most often than not, the patent application itself might have took more effort to write than the idea (not product) that was patented. There's also often no implementation that can be stolen or reverse engineered: a company could save significant time and money by copying Edison's light bulb, while the same cannot be said about Worlds' patent.

Whatever implementation Worlds have for sale is worthless for most software projects, which have wildly different requirements and development environments. If I "license" their product, I will not get ready-to-use source code that saves me several man-hours in work. I'll just be allowed to use the idea of "using the client's 3D position to limit the information sent from the server" and would still need to develop the entire thing on my own.

They are licensing an idea. Not a product, not technology, not even knowledge. An idea. Thus, trolls.

And BTW, they should also be suing: Valve, Epic Games, ID Software. Because all those companies are using the idea of limiting the data sent to clients based on their 3D position on the server too.