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Sega suing Level 5 over patent infringement
- Thread starter Hobby
- Start date
Dark Octave
Banned
What's the patent? Kick girl with ball and aggressively poke privates?Edit - Image included with the patent:
Omegasquash
Member
Looks like some BS out of the gate, and that they'd need to sue LOADS more than Level 5 (choosing them makes it seem targeted). I'll dig more, but...really?
thetrin
Hail, peons, for I have come as ambassador from the great and bountiful Blueberry Butt Explosion
They could, as long as the outcome of the motion was specified. (ie. the character shoots a wave of concentrated chi energy out of their hands when the motion is done).
Thanks for confirming it. I'm curious what the second patent is, because I wasn't able to find anything last night that really stood out for it and this article also doesn't seem to mention the second patent.
I'm wondering if the second patent doesn't specifically have to do with touch screens?
foxdvd
Member
do you have a link to that video?
That's what I was thinking. I think it's odd. Hardware and software I can understand. But an in-game feature?
plagiarize
Banned
sega had a patent on specific method for having AIs jump out of the way of a car. these patents are terrible even if valid. honest question, do SEGA make any touchscreen controlled football games?
Diddy Kong
Banned
Oh SEGA..
I'm a huge Sega fan, but this is pretty shameful. Stop taking notes from shitty Apple, Sega!First youtube users now Level 5
Uncle Rupee
Banned
Level 5 to counter-sue Sega for making Rhythm Thief, which infringes Layton's ASS
Well, I will agree Level 5 is clearly infringing on that patent. The question is, can you really patent such a thing? I know companies have been patenting video game mechanics in Japan for decades, but anyone know if it has been challenged in court yet?
Didn't Sega threaten to sue years ago over the use of the 'crazy taxi arrow'?
Didn't Sega threaten to sue years ago over the use of the 'crazy taxi arrow'?
SapientWolf
Trucker Sexologist
Gameplay patents are not a good idea. Sega is probably infringing on Namco's movelist and load time gameplay patents.
Yes. They have the Football Manager Handheld series on PSP/iOS/Android, and maybe more relevant to this conversation, they revived the Soccer Tsuku J-League series that started on Dreamcast. One half was revived on PSP, and the other half on DS:
Soccer Tsuku DS: Touch and Direct was the first entry on DS. It launched in November 2008, 2 months after the first Inazuma Eleven launched on that same platform.
Portugeezer
Member
Would I be naive to think SEGA won't go far with this one?
Well that is what I would expect from a European or American court anyway.
Will this be settled in Japan?
Well that is what I would expect from a European or American court anyway.
Will this be settled in Japan?
Yeah, not the top though. And if Sega gets this one, they must go after Square Enix for TWEWY and DQ 9, Nintnedo for the Zelda DS games and whoever did Contact (amongst others) otherwise they're going to get called out on it.
That's saying nothing of jeopardizing their relationship with Nintendo by threatening a title that is a High Tier title on the NDS platform.
That's saying nothing of jeopardizing their relationship with Nintendo by threatening a title that is a High Tier title on the NDS platform.
Err, the bottom screen (which is the touch enabled one) is how you control players in Inazuma Eleven. This patent dispute is specifically about controlling players with a touch screen in a manner which pretty much makes it exclusive to soccer games.
Glass Rebel
Member
With the new information that has surfaced the patent looks really specific and I'm leaning towards SEGA's side rather than Level-5's. Whether I agree with software patents is a separate matter altogether.
SuperDowns
Banned
It's a ridiculous patent to hold, but it certainly looks like Level-5 was violating it:
That bottom screen looks like SEGA's patent diagram.
Dear God, it does look remarkably close to the patent outlined.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
So who is Silicon Knights and who is Epic in this situation?
(Or should I ask who is Konami and who is Harmonix/Red Octane?)
(Or should I ask who is Konami and who is Harmonix/Red Octane?)
electroplankton
Banned
So let's hope Hino finally will be left without money.
So? You're given Sunday night football tv bit where the doods write on the screen looks like sega's patent.
This all comes off as a bunch of pissing and whining by sega at a better company and it's going to lead to trouble.
That said, if this leads to IE being shit canned, the Fujoshi crowd alone will tear what's left of Sega-sammy appart.
This all comes off as a bunch of pissing and whining by sega at a better company and it's going to lead to trouble.
That said, if this leads to IE being shit canned, the Fujoshi crowd alone will tear what's left of Sega-sammy appart.
Azure Dream
Member
I'm about halfway through this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQdFcf9SE5s
Sounds completely botched, a case of an overzealous director actively flipping off the fans Sega needs to buy their products.
Edit: Definitely listen to the part of the account by TotalBiscuit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=rQdFcf9SE5s#t=1009s
Dood's got a point.
For what it's worth, while I don't like plenty of Level-5's games, and I believe the annual sequel treatment they give their IPs is a shitty thing to do, I don't want them to shut down. Too many people would be without a job if they went under, and while I don't care for many of their games, they have made games I did enjoy. That said, as my posts in the Media Create threads show I do find entertainment in their failures.