News

Patent suit against Activision Blizzard court date set
Posted: 17.09.2012 09:24 by Nick Akerman Comments: 10
A court date between Worlds Inc and Activision Blizzard has been set for June 27, 2013 by U.S. District Judge Denise J Casper.

The suit claims Blizzard's World of Warcraft title infringes on patents held by Worlds Inc. The judge is set to issue a definitive interpretation of the patent which could place many MMOs in trouble if World Inc's claim is accepted.

The Worlds Inc patents in question are U.S. patents numbers 8,082,501, 7,493,558, 7,945,856 and 7,181,690 titled "System and Method for Enabling Users to Interact in a Virtual Space."

In basic terms, this is a style of game that forms the core of most MMO experiences. Potentially, this could be a landmark ruling in the games industry.

Comments

By nocutius (SI Elite) on Sep 17, 2012
nocutius
Patent trolling :(
By djole381 (SI Elite) on Sep 17, 2012
djole381
Interesting...
*grabs popcorn
By djole381 (SI Elite) on Sep 17, 2012
djole381
We seriously need a report function for comments. This spambot is really annoying.
By Xyfer117 (SI Core) on Sep 17, 2012
Xyfer117
Very interesting story indeed!
And can the mods/admins not delete them annoying comments?
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Sep 17, 2012
nocutius
They need to see them first.
By djole381 (SI Elite) on Sep 17, 2012
djole381
...which is why we need a report button.
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Sep 17, 2012
nocutius
I would not mind to have that either but to be fair spambots usually get squished fast enough already.
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on Sep 17, 2012
SirRoderick
Anyway...Seems a bit on the late side to start a trial over this. When did they first file charges?
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Sep 17, 2012
nocutius
Sometime in the spring, but they've sued others a few years back as well.
By lichlord (SI Core) on Sep 18, 2012
lichlord
why not a report spam button and when it reaches like 10 thumbs down it auto hides comment like on youtube...

anyways wow is what? 8 years old now last i looked bureaucratic paperwork can be slow but this slow? doubtfull...