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Report: Worlds.com Hits NCsoft With Patent Infringement Suit
by Leigh Alexander [PC, Console/PC]
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December 30, 2008
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Virtual world company Worlds.com filed suit against City Of Heroes publisher NCsoft on Christmas Eve, claiming infringement on its MMO technology patent.
The main patent referenced in the suit is a "System and Method for Enabling Users to Interact in a Virtual Space."
According to the lawsuit, obtained by the Virtual Worlds News website, Worlds.com alleges that NCsoft's online games, including Dungeon Runners, City of Heroes/Villains and Lineage II, among others, are in violation.
Earlier this month, Worlds.com, which launched in 1994, referenced its holding of patents for two technologies common in virtual worlds and MMOs: scalable chat and user interaction in a virtual space.
As MMO site Massively reported at the time, this theoretically gives Worlds.com enforcement power over just about any online game that lets users talk and interact in a game world -- and the ability to collect financial damages.
Massively's report noted that Worlds.com's interaction patent was filed in 2000 -- after the launch of other games such as Habitat or Ultima Online, which appear to include some reasonably similar features.
The complaint, filed in NCsoft's home ground of the Eastern District of Texas, seeks a permanent injunction against NCSoft operating games covered under the patent, plus damages for the alleged infringement, "in no event less than a reasonable royalty", as well as lawyers' fees.
Worlds.com's second patent, unreferenced in this particular legal claim, is 'Scalable virtual world chat client-server system', which was filed in 1996 and granted in 2001.
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Of course, prior art may go back to MUD games, especially MOOs where you are able to manipulate objects to build your own rooms (since I am a professional programmer, I cannot read patents other than the ones I or the company I work for filed... so MUD/MOO may not even fit as prior art).
They'll only lose money. Ridiculous.
Guild Wars is published by NCsoft, so they are already being hit, Roberto. They may file suit over Blizzard, unless there is some specific technology in the software that NCsoft uses.
Ultimately, very lame. I am reminded of a previous Gamasutra article http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3562/the_designers_notebook_damn_all_.php
On a more serious note, there is too much prior art for the suit to have any chance. Even something like the old VR game "Dactyl Nightmare" precedes the date of filing of the interaction patent's document by almost a decade and can be described by all of its twenty points.
NCSoft provides products and services to the US and can therefore be targeted.
If this company wins here, they have the possibility of shutting down Blizzard and Sony as well as dozens of smaller shops and prevent any external studio from releasing their MMO in the US.
It most likely won't come to that and most of the larger companies may end up settling and providing royalties to this company.
Personally, I want to see them fail hard.
Cmon guys let's find the prior art and give these patent trolls what they deserve!
I cannot wait to see multiplayer 2.5D and 3D games from as early as 1992 being used to invalidate this patent.
Completely agree with your sentiments and I too hope they fail hard.
Consider a company based in Europe or Asia providing a globally accessible MMO online. If the servers are not based in the US (or elsewhere under US jurisdiction), they are unaffected by this patent.
Unless like someone said above, NCSoft is using a SPECIFIC technology that Worlds.Com has already created for use. Thats the only thing which could hold and validity.
Thats like someone saying mcDonalds, Burger King and every fast food resturant are infringing on my patent to "consume liquids through an exterior process" (The Straw). Quick someone set me up with a lawyer!
While if they went after Sony or Blizzard they'd get crushed.
Man, NcSoft just keeps taking hits. First they get mugged by the Garriott boys with Tabula Rasa, and now they're gonna get robbed by bloodthirsty patent-troll lawyers.
And when it comes to "Virtual worlds," I created the first commercial MMO, MegaWars, in 1982, while at CompuServe and went on to create GEnie for which at least two-dozen more MMOs, many of which were graphical, 3D "virtual spaces" were offered commercially from both internal and third-party developers.
Beyond that, the practice of user interaction in a virtual 3D space existed well before this "purported" patent. The first graphical front-end, 3D, virtual world with chat was Air Warrior in 1986. In addition, the principles of user-perspective views of virtual worlds was well-known at least 15 years before their patent filing. GEnie had graphical MMOs and CHAT products for the Apple Macintosh (A-MAZE-ING, 1988), IBM (Stellar Emporer, Air Warrior, BattleTech, RS Cards, and CHAT games, among others as early as 1986). Other ISPs such as Delphi, AOL, US Videotel, and more had graphical MMOs from Kesmai Corp (now owned by EA).
Any lawyers out there that need an expert witness and prior art on this issue, contact me.
http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/snapshot/snapshot.asp?capId=10
2490
And here's the list of people you can thank:
http://investing.businessweek.com/businessweek/research/stocks/people/people.asp
?symbol=WDDD.OB
You are correct. They are claiming everything. In my experience, this is typical of this type of ploy. First, they are plying on the ignorance of the US Patent Office clerks to understand the concepts of "cyberspace." Second, they (the US Patent office and perhaps the company, worlds.com, itself) have not studied the history of online to know that these sorts of "technologies" have been known by those knowledgeable of the Online technology evolution, of Internet and X.25 networking, or from mainframe to client-server computing platforms.
Look at Kevin's links to the Bulletin Board company...look at their reported revenues in 2007 and 2008 ($0). My wife's hobby / e-bay 'store' has done more revenue than they have.
I've consulted for several firms in defense of such frivolous lawsuits and patent claims in the past. In most cases, the respective patents are revoked; but not without considerable time and expense by the defending companies and the gamer community.
I think it's high time the patent system was looked at...it no longer serves the purpose its founders had set for it. Now, it's an excuse to milk other people for their ingenuity (please don't tell me this ridiculously obscure company really invented this stuff...they saw what was coming and took advantage of the fact that most game companies at the time were still green when it came to patents...these types are the types of companies that need to be shut down for being 100% useless...
1. It has been too many years since the patent was approved and they acted on infringement.
2. The patents had been in use for some time by others before the patent approval, although this may be faulted to the patent office, at the time of the approval of the patent there was several prior arts.
3. If the patent claims are accepted, the damages to companies and consumers would be far too great as these and related patents are in too widespread use by now and should be considered public domain instead.
Obviously our patent system is hideously flawed if U.S. businesses can make these sorts of claims. No one should be able to sit around trying to patent general internet protocols in use by the entire world. Nor should you be able to sue a company right now for something that was actually developed by someone else decades ago. Obviously our system needs a revamp to cut the crap. This is an embarrassment!
Also, I wholeheartedly agree with most all the points you guys are bringing up. It's extremely lame that NC Soft is being singled out when there are countless other games that use the "patented technology" that's being fingered here. Clearly this company is choosing their battles, hoping that a company facing a bit of turmoil right now, founded by non-U.S. citizens, will be trumped by their all-American Texas court setting. And we wonder why the rest of the world scoffs at us?
Because somewhere, somehow, you just know some other patent troll has patented something that is used in either WoW, Everquest II, WAR, or the upcoming Bioware mmo. If NCsoft loses, I can almost guarantee another case like this in the next couple of years.
2) Misuse,generic usage, or unfair use of the patent, you can be grant of the patent "3d representation in a 2d surface" (in fact it was granted) BUT you can't obtain royalties from such patent, hence this patent is as good as toilet paper.
I mean, if I have already an idea to solve a certain problem, but google anyway, there is already a high chance that I get some patents listed. Then I take a look and them and often notice that it's either the first idea, you would come up with or it's just an application of an algorithm that is common math knowledge since an eternity and so it's also not something that should be patentable, because the mathematician did the brain work, not the one who grabbed it from a book or paper first.
Good that enough people in the EU are fighting against software patents whenever the topic is on the table.