Patent Trolls
Posted 01/30/09 at 10:00:00 AM by Thomas McDonald
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[Editor's note: This edition of Game Theory was originally published in our Holiday 2008 issue]
So, did you know that Worlds.com invented massively multiplayer gaming and has a pair of patents to prove it?
It came as complete news to me, even though I wrote a column on massively multiplayer gaming back when the genre was just beginning. Apparently, Worlds.com created some kind of branded virtual spaces that used avatars and scalable chat, got somebody in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to rubber stamp its nonsense applications, and now is going to sue the entire MMORPG industry into submission, starting with NCSoft, possibly because it has less frightening lawyers than Blizzard.
Just for maximum irritation, Worlds.com filed its claims on December 24. Merry Christmas to you, too!
The relevant portion of its patent reads, to gamers, like a patent for eating. (“A method for intaking nutrients whereby the user opens the user’s mouth,” etc….) It goes like this:
“A method for enabling a plurality of users to interact in a virtual space, wherein each user has a computer associated therewith, wherein each computer has a client process associated therewith, wherein each client process has an avatar associated therewith, and wherein each client process is in communication with a server process.”
Did you catch that? Worlds.com invented the idea of connecting computers for online gaming and giving each player a graphical avatar.
This must be news to Steve Colley. Back in 1973, he and some other young programmers interning at NASA created MazeWar, arguably the first “first-person shooter.” Not only did you navigate a maze, but each player was represented by an avatar (an eyeball), people could shoot each other, and the whole thing was networked, complete with online chat!
But MazeWar wasn’t Colley’s work alone. Others had inspired him, and subsequent people built on his work, drawing on the potential of new technology to forge the entire gaming industry. No one person or company can claim ownership of these ideas.
In 1994, Compton’s attempted to exercise patent rights it had secured for its CD-ROM encyclopedia, claiming it covered any method of retrieving data from a disc. The company didn’t get far before its patent was invalidated. If that doesn’t happen, and if Worlds.com can get a precedent, the MMO industry will be its piggy bank.
Thomas L. McDonald has been covering games for 17 years. He is an editor at large for Games magazine.
WTF?
Submitted by Humpfester on Mon, 02/02/2009 - 9:18am
WTF is Al Gore up to now? lol
When your instant rich Google Scheme fails
Submitted by zodi on Fri, 01/30/2009 - 7:50pm
See above.
Become a Patent Troll. Thats right for $149.95 you can learn how to become a patent troll. Buy my book, view my CD, and send me the Cash for Volume 2!!!!
You can Make millions!!!
This ad above is intendid for individuals who really should look in the mirror and discover why they are a failure in life instead of being a patent troll.
Anyways people shouldn't patent troll. Its not a ethical business model.
nuff said
I'll take one!
Submitted by MyMojo on Fri, 01/30/2009 - 8:38pm
Do you accept PayPal!
If humans evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?
fine them and fix the economy!
Submitted by n0ctis on Fri, 01/30/2009 - 1:41pm
For frakssake, can we get some legislation against patent trolling?!
Will will say there isn't a need. Gordon will make an ambulance noise.
Submitted by karnak on Fri, 01/30/2009 - 12:29pm
Someone should patent patent trolling.
The act of taking something ubiquitous and patenting it for no other reason than greed.
I patented the vowels on all keyboards
Submitted by Svetty Parabols on Fri, 01/30/2009 - 11:18am
Everyone owes me 2 cents for each one typed muhahahaha
This reminds of an episode
Submitted by Antilogic81 on Fri, 01/30/2009 - 8:22am
This reminds of an episode of Metalocalypse...where Murderface says he is the guy in charge of writing songs for the band (an absolutely lie)
here is the dialogue as far as I can remember it...
Nathan: But you didn't write anything!
Murderface: But I could have!
Nathan: But you didn't!
Murderface: But I could have! I know I write my own basslines
Squissgar: No you didn't I have to write them and then shows them to you!
Murderface: Oh yeah.
Nathan: This is stupid, I could have invented the uh...floor! But I didn't invent it!
Murderface: But that doesn't mean you shouldn't get credit for it!
I think this sums it up nicely.
Submitted by gumbo87 on Fri, 01/30/2009 - 6:50am
It was McDonalds, not Tim Hortons. Now we're left with coffee for retards, complete with an extra layer of cardboard around the cup and lukewarm temperatures.
Submitted by tehR0XX0Rz on Fri, 01/30/2009 - 5:17am
If you want to get truly journalistic, find out more about the people working at our patent office. What kind of education and background do they have? Are they even qualified to review patents in the digital age?
Of course, this nonsense would be avoided if patents were only awarded when working schematics and prototypes were presented. Vague ideas shouldn't be protected by a patent.
Oh Boy.....
Submitted by GreenTurtle on Fri, 01/30/2009 - 5:16am
Next someone will patent " An enclosure encasing any said number of PC parts " and sue all of the PC case manufacturers.
Not surprised.
Submitted by Cache on Fri, 01/30/2009 - 4:58am
Really--it was only a matter of time before the Rambus Business Model was picked up by everyone else so that everyone can make money suing everyone else.
Submitted by dethdeks on Fri, 01/30/2009 - 4:09am
im not surpised. its like everyone else now adays, they find a easy cash cow so they make up some stupid sceme to get easy money, point and case
lady in the USA went into a tim hortons and bought a coffee and it spilt on her self so she sued them cause... get this it was hot(no way hot coffee? who has heard of that before?) all cause it didnt say on the cup cation contents may be hot. and the sad part is , she won.
or the woman that bought the motor home and put it on cruise control and went to bed in the back of the motor home, and drove off the road. and i bet you can guess it she sued the car dealership that she bought the motor home because she wasnt informed that the cruise control didnt mean she had to stay at the wheel. and again .... yes you guessed it she won
but like i said people are always looking for an easy way to get money be it sue for stupid reasons like this one. i think people need to grow up and go back to how it use to be. the only way you made money is sell things and hard work non of this bullshit lets sue everything that moves because of reason a or reason b or reason c.
Submitted by xs0u1x on Fri, 01/30/2009 - 4:48am
that was at mcdonalds. and the elderly lady sued because the coffee was so hot it melted the cotton to her genitals and she had to get reconstructive surgery. or i may be mistaken and this happened twice, but the one i know of is the mcdonalds one. i though it was stupid at first too, but id be pretty mad too if i had to get reconstructive surgery on my crotch too.
i doubt this will make it past trial, any competant judge can clearly see this is patent trolling.
Submitted by MaxFan on Fri, 01/30/2009 - 7:08am
Cotton does not melt. It ignites. I believe the details were that she was wearing a pair of NYLONS (which when subjected to high enough heat WILL melt, however that melting temperature is a good deal hotter than you can actually physiclly get coffee (water boils at 100 Degrees C water with coffee boils at approximately 105 Degrees C) Nylon's melt temperature is ~ 282 Degrees C leaving a shortfall of 182 degrees C necesary to melt the nylons.) It was demonstrated in that case that the coffee could not have possibly caused the injuries to the woman, who also was not elderly she was in her thirties, yet the jury found for the plaintiff anyway and was awarded judgement which on appeal was struck down by the appellate division as being a case without merit and the judge presiding over the district court was reprimanded for allowing a meritless case to be brought forward and has since been removed from the bench. But of course the damage was done to McDonalds reputation and McDonalds has since placed verbiage on all hot liquid containers sold to the public to wit: CAUTION: Contents may be hot.
Submitted by PayAtTheDoor on Fri, 01/30/2009 - 9:29am
Instead of talking out of your asses, take a minute to search the web for the details:
http://www.vanfirm.com/mcdonalds-coffee-lawsuit.htm
http://lawandhelp.com/q298-2.htm
It was an 81 year-old woman. She had first to third-degree burns. McDonalds was found culpable in part because of the temperature of the coffee, but also because of negligence. They settled a number of previous hot coffee burn claims out of court, yet failed to do anything about either the temperature of the coffee. McDonalds training manuals instructed franchisees to brew coffee at 195 to 205 degrees farenheit and hold it between 180 and 190 degrees "for optimal taste." The plaintiff's doctor testified that it takes less than three seconds to produce third-degree burns at 190 degrees, 12 to 15 seconds at 180 degrees. The plaintiff required skin grafts and a seven day hospital stay.
The initial award was $160,000 compensentory and $2.7 million punitive damages. On appeal, the judge lowered the award to $480,000.
Thank you
Submitted by uncleck on Fri, 01/30/2009 - 5:14pm
To PayAtTheDoor! As an attorney, I have had to explain this case to multitudes of Fox News sheep who believe that huge corporations constantly need to be protected from elderly and rapacious scam artists. You would think that there is a fraudster lurking around every corner just itching to take the food out of the mouths of poor defenseless corporate CEOs.
And as for the woman who set the cruise control and went to the back of the RV, well a little research would help there, too. (And I do mean a little research - ever here of Snopes.com?) It never happened - at least there has never been a lawsuit alleging these or similar facts as a cause of action. Please, turn off Fox News, Rush, etc. and educate yourselves, folks!
Finally, Worlds.com's patent will most likely be held to be invalid, if for no other reason than it is apparently based on prior art.
Submitted by xs0u1x on Fri, 01/30/2009 - 9:45am
i really didnt think it was that important to look it up. thanks though, its still pretty crappy, 3rd degree burns ftl.
The funny part, if any, is that
Submitted by Zazubovich on Fri, 01/30/2009 - 12:07pm
She only initially sued for the costs of her medical bills not covered by Medicaid and McDonalds refused to settle! They gambled and lost by, what, a factor of ten times? And all the right wing blowhards still bring the case up and lie about it to make it look like corporations are victims. Maybe if somebody boiled Hannity's nads in bad coffee it might be okay to sue for damages...
Submitted by MyMojo on Fri, 01/30/2009 - 4:43pm
Now, now.. let's not get nasty everybody. My question is this: Who was in control of the cup when it was spilled? The person working at McDonalds, OR the lady who bought it? In my mind, if she paid for the coffee, had it in her hands, and THEN spilled it, she's at fault. Not the restaurant. I mean think about it: Let's say I buy some coffee at Starbucks, pull away from the drive-up window, then spill it trying to park the car. Should I be able to sue them for the coffee being too hot?? It's madness people! Why are people not being forced to accept responsibility for themselves?? Should we be allowed to blame anyone and/or everyone for are own stupid mistakes?? Things to ponder....
BTW: I happen to be a coffee connoisseur, and the preferred temperature for coffee is around 197 F. NEVER let boiling water touch coffee grounds. It ruines the flavor. That's why drip machines can't make great coffee.
Peace my brothers!!!
If humans evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?
Submitted by BaggerX on Fri, 01/30/2009 - 5:06pm
McDonald's coffee has nothing to do with conoisseurs' preferences. It has everything to do with serving mass quantities out a window to people sitting in their cars, held in flimsy cups with lids that are often either put on wrong or just leak. Anything that can cause third degree burns within a few seconds should not be served to people in cars, as McDonald's already knew since this was not nearly the first time it had happened. Just the first time they chose not to settle the lawsuit.
Submitted by MyMojo on Fri, 01/30/2009 - 8:35pm
So... you believe most people aren't intelligent enough to have hot drinks
served to them at a drive through?? As you stated: "Anything that can
cause third degree burns within a few seconds should not be served to people in
cars"I believe people need to grow up and except the fact that mistakes happen!
If you, or anyone else feels that they aren't competent enough to handle a hot
drink, then don't buy one! It's unbelievable how many whiners are living in
this country!About the connoisseur comment: Personally I've never drank any of McDs
coffee, and probably never will. I like great coffee. I was merely pointing to
the comment that was made earlier by another reader that 190 degrees in NOT too
hot for coffee.Thanks, that'll be all. And don't forget to tip your waitresses!
If humans evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?
Why
Submitted by jediken21 on Fri, 01/30/2009 - 1:23am
I feel like those kids in these MMOs I greif and all they say in a tell is "Why". Karma I guess 'cos now I'm sending a spiritual /tell worlds.com, Why.
Submitted by festiva_man on Fri, 01/30/2009 - 12:31am
This proves evil still lives on.....
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