This may have been discussed already but I did not see a topic for it.

The lawsuit (Case 6:08-cv-00508) was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division.

Worlds.com, Inc. (OTC BB: WDDD - News), of Brookline, MA, owns US Patent No. 7,181,690 titled “System and Method for Enabling Users to Interact in a Virtual Space” (the ‘690 Patent). The Patent relates to computer architecture for a three-dimensional graphical multi-user interactive virtual world system. Such systems are utilized in Massive Multi-Player Online Games (MMORPG) of the type known as Graphical Multi-Dimension (GMUD) games, which provide a graphical representation of the player’s character (avatar) wherein movement of the character in virtual space alters what the character views.

General Patent Corporation has represented Worlds.com, Inc. since 2002 as its exclusive licensing agent.

“We had to protect our client’s intellectual property,” said Alexander Poltorak, GPC’s Chairman and CEO. “However, we welcome a dialog with NCSoft and other MMO game vendors.”

NCSoft Corp., a game developer with US offices in Austin, TX, is the purveyor of such games as City of Heroes, Guild Wars, Tabula Rasa, Lineage, and Lineage II, which have been identified in the complaint as infringing the Worlds’ Patent.

“We intend to vigorously enforce Worlds’ intellectual property rights and look forward to a speedy and amicable resolution of this matter,” said Stephen Roth of Lerner David Littenberg Krumholz & Mentlik LLP, the lead counsel in the case.

“Worlds.com has been a pioneer in the field of Virtual Worlds since the early nineties,” stated Thom Kidrin, Worlds’ CEO. “We are pleased to see that the technology we developed is now widely used by MMO game developers. At the same time, we deserve a fair compensation for the use of our patented technology.”

Full Story: http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/081231/20081231005197.html?.v=1

This sounds like a load of bullshit and some struggling little nerd factory just wants a piece of pie that doesnt belong to them. IMO this whole case is retarded. It would be like somone holding the patents to a horror film script forumlas... I hope NCSOFT wins this one, or else this company is gonna start going after other MMORPG devs as well.

This is fucking STUPID.  That's all you can really say about it.  Why are they only going after NCSoft, shouldn't they be after Blizzard and every other MMO maker too?

It's like patenting cards and suing Solitaire for using your card technology.

Wow that's fucking useless and stupid.

Yeah Worlds Inc., you know the deal, death to all mmorpgs!!!!




But honestly, I can't see this going anywhere
Maybe NCSoft is currently facing a tough financial time and Worlds Inc. thought it might be worth trying to profit off of a lawsuit?

How can you patent a genre?

didn't hiret work for ncsoft for a while?

How can you patent a genre?

I dunno, but they're probably going to tag them on that or something like this. I really don't think they're going to win, and if they do NCSoft has some shitty lawyers.

The more important question is how can you not patent a genre? (I know if I ever come up with a new one, It'll be the first thing I do... And I think I know enough about genres to come up with something uheard of but exactly as endearing as the rest!)

They are just nerds who think society is so technology illiterate that they can claim all rights to a well-established design pattern. If they really had any right to anything, they would have been enforcing this from the start. It seems pretty shitty of them to wait until after the successful ones make millions before getting any interest in enforcing their claim to "their" design.

It sounds like the patent specifically covers their architecture for making an MMO.  Unless NCSoft used their code for making their games (probably not), they have no case.

edit: I just checked out their site, it looks like they just have a platform for avatar/graphical chat/second life type shit.  So yeah, unless NCSoft is USING that software, this company can go fuck itself because they aren't king of the MMOs.

Also I don't know enough about patent law but I severely doubt you can patent a genre.

didn't hiret work for ncsoft for a while?

He worked for Arenanet in development for Guild Wars... so kinda sorta barely.

I dunno, but they're probably going to tag them on that or something like this. I really don't think they're going to win, and if they do NCSoft has some shitty lawyers.

I just want to know what this supposed "method" is, and how someone could possibly patent it.

careful guys, i just patented "system for posting text and images online through a website forum."

I also patented "method of circulating oxygen through your lungs to survive" so every time you inhale you have to pay me royalties

Basically I think they don't understand their own patent or are hoping that other people don't understand it so that they can get money from it.  They are saying that their patent is for ALLOWING USERS TO INTERACT WITH EACH OTHER IN VIRTUAL SPACES.  Fuck, who's to say that's not a message board?  I'm pretty sure that this kind of thing existed before this company patented it, and even if somehow their patent does cover all USER INTERACTION then that is a fucking terrible patent and shouldn't be allowed.

Why don't I just patent jumping in video games?  It's my concept, you can't use jumping in your games.

edit: Also I read somewhere that the patent went into effect in 2007 whereas I was in middle school when Lineage hit the states so it's a little late!!!!!

I read a neat article somewhere discussing how patents were actually bad for video games and all of these retarded patent related issues are pretty much why.

iirc, you can't patent videogamezz, you get copyright protection instead.

iirc, you can't patent videogamezz, you get copyright protection instead.

It sounded like they were trying to patent their "user interaction system" (i.e. videogames) and are now trying to use the wording of that patent to get cash in a poor economic time.

Also everyone look at the screenshots on their site, they should ask NCSoft how to make graphics because those avatars are gross.  I think the original Sims were better because at least they were somewhat pleasant to look at despite being low-tech, these are just...ew.

I tried to find more information on this but I guess the case hasnt been resolved yet.

A court would have to be retarded to rule against NCSoft in this, that's all I can really say about it.  If NCSoft loses, then that sets a very, very dangerous precedent.  I don't see how MMO's could even continue to exist if they ruled against NCSoft in this, that basically says "anything where people control 3D characters and can talk with each other in a virtual world is mine and no one else can do this".

iirc, you can't patent videogamezz, you get copyright protection instead.

They can patent the technology used in video games.  Stupid shit like rumble controllers and the wiimote have been attacked because some nobody patented a crazy idea and when something comes out that's slightly similar they start a huge case.

If I was creative in any way I'd just invent the most ridiculously simple bullshit (object that displays pixels on an lcd screen to form images lol) and sue anyone who uses it.