a guy bought a motorhome and crashed it while he was on the freeway to get his toast that was ready and he sued them and got money back and a new free motorhome cause it didnt say anywhere that it wouldint drive it self or that he didint have to sit down while on the road
I think the people replying to this thread are missing something...
ANYONE can be sued for ANYTHING.
It does not mean that they will win, though.
Correct sir!
I could in fact file suit on you for your name, and on MMORPG for letting you use that name. I would never see my day in court, and the court would more then likely repremand me for filing, BUT I could file suit.
So there not only sueing them but trying to prevent them from using the technology/software, in other words trying to make NCsoft shut down there games?
The infringement accusation does seem extreme. As previously stated, the patent age is too young to encompass the entirety of NCSoft's games. If the lawsuit covers any of the games, it might have precedence on Tablula Rasa. If NCSoft can prove that the system was implemented before the patent was made then the lawsuit could be thrown out. I think what World Inc. is trying to prove is that NCSoft knowing and willingly infringed the patent during the pending patent process. Either way, it should be interesting to see the outcome.
This is just another blatant example of 'patent trolling'.
It is happening every day in USA. Your software patent laws are idiotic & these endless multimillion dollar law suits over nothig prove it.
Your politicians are allowing this to happen.
Lobby your politicians to get rid of or amend the stupid software patents laws or continue to watch endless millions & millions millions of your tax payer dollars getting pissed away by patent trolling.
Do you guys remember when the a company called SCO sued IBM for 'method's & concepts' of their IP supposedly in Linux. That cost IBM/REDHAT/Daimler Chrysler and many othersunbelievable amounts of money & IS STILL GOING ON!
Yes your legal system is broken.
You need to exercise you democratic freedom & kick you politicians who allowed this to happen.
thats it.. im going to file a patent for posting text on a website in a threaded form where people can create new threads and respond to existing threads.... I will be rich!!!
Seriously, wtf... why do these idiots even bother wasting time and money when they know they will lose. Too bad NcSoft couldnt countersue for Worlds.com wasting their time.
The infringement accusation does seem extreme. As previously stated, the patent age is too young to encompass the entirety of NCSoft's games. If the lawsuit covers any of the games, it might have precedence on Tablula Rasa. If NCSoft can prove that the system was implemented before the patent was made then the lawsuit could be thrown out. I think what World Inc. is trying to prove is that NCSoft knowing and willingly infringed the patent during the pending patent process. Either way, it should be interesting to see the outcome.
From what i gathered from this piece of news is that worlds.com are more concerned about the " Scalable virtual world chat client-server system" patent that was taken out which was taken way back in April 17, 2001.....
What we dont know is what 690 is specifically. For all we know 690 may be a specific programming that makes the globals system work. I dont see how this is a lawsuit addressing chat, this is addressing the issue of patent 690. You can't patent chat, but you can patent a program OF chat. I suspect that NCsoft chat programming and world's programming is too close for comfort. When in contrast SOE and Blizzard wrote chat programming that is totally different. Just my 2 cents.
It is so general it is pathic... yes, it is from Feb 20, 2007. Mostly all MMO's use this as their way to communicate between "server" and "client"... I can't think how this got through the screening, can't be general like this. The clerk must not been technical at all.
Originally posted by ZDPhoenix Ehh, it won't happen.
No matter how much I want to see NCSoft sued for all it's worth, it just won't happen.
I have to ask: Why?
I think this is a completely ridiculous lawsuit, as it seems everyone else does. This is never going to happen. I can't believe they actually filed this.
"There are two great powers, and they've been fighting since time began. Every advance in human life, every scrap of knowledge and wisdom and decency we have has been torn by one side from the teeth of the other. Every little increase in human freedom has been fought over ferociously between those who want us to know more and be wiser and stronger, and those who want us to obey and be humble and submit."
John Parry, to his son Will; "The Subtle Knife," by Phillip Pullman
One thing i see on the patent is the "file Date: " 1996. That was way before some these games coming out. So I wonder if maybe there could be something here. It took the US government over 10 years to issue it. Your thoughts on this?
The Federal Courts have ruled against the use of Business Process Patents, with a case just recently on Oct 30th of this year. Seeing that this claim is based on a technical method, and not of actual code, I believe the legal team for NCSoft would use the cases of the Business Process Patents for support. The only difference of the two is that one is business and the other is technical.
Here is the news story and I think we can all agree that this case will be ruled in favor of NCSoft.
U.S. ruling may curb business method patents
WASHINGTON, Oct 30 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court has rejected patenting a way to smooth energy costs in a closely watched decision that could narrow the scope of "business method" patents.
The case turned on whether an inventor can patent an abstract process, something that involves nothing more than thoughts, and was closely watched by software makers, Internet companies, investment houses and other businesses.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled on Thursday that the patent application at issue was not tied to a machine and did not result in a transformation, both standards set by the U.S. Supreme Court for patentability.
Conservatives' pessimism is conducive to their happiness in three ways. First, they are rarely surprised -- they are right more often than not about the course of events. Second, when they are wrong they are happy to be so. Third, because pessimistic conservatives put not their faith in princes -- government -- they accept that happiness is a function of fending for oneself. They believe that happiness is an activity -- it is inseparable from the pursuit of happiness.
What we dont know is what 690 is specifically. For all we know 690 may be a specific programming that makes the globals system work. I dont see how this is a lawsuit addressing chat, this is addressing the issue of patent 690. You can't patent chat, but you can patent a program OF chat. I suspect that NCsoft chat programming and world's programming is too close for comfort. When in contrast SOE and Blizzard wrote chat programming that is totally different. Just my 2 cents.
It is so general it is pathic... yes, it is from Feb 20, 2007. Mostly all MMO's use this as their way to communicate between "server" and "client"... I can't think how this got through the screening, can't be general like this. The clerk must not been technical at all.
I read over the 690 and most of it made little sence without a whiteboard and the motivation to care enough to figure it out.
I am going to have to throw my worthless hat into the " too general to be a valid patent"
It appears to me to be a patent on a concept of chatting rather then an actual code issue.
I does seem they filed suit on NCsoft since thier chat is text bubbled and adjusted for distance? So NCsoft has 3-D relation chat with the user?
What we dont know is what 690 is specifically. For all we know 690 may be a specific programming that makes the globals system work. I dont see how this is a lawsuit addressing chat, this is addressing the issue of patent 690. You can't patent chat, but you can patent a program OF chat. I suspect that NCsoft chat programming and world's programming is too close for comfort. When in contrast SOE and Blizzard wrote chat programming that is totally different. Just my 2 cents.
It is so general it is pathic... yes, it is from Feb 20, 2007. Mostly all MMO's use this as their way to communicate between "server" and "client"... I can't think how this got through the screening, can't be general like this. The clerk must not been technical at all.
I read over the 690 and most of it made little sence without a whiteboard and the motivation to care enough to figure it out.
I am going to have to throw my worthless hat into the " too general to be a valid patent"
It appears to me to be a patent on a concept of chatting rather then an actual code issue.
I does seem they filed suit on NCsoft since thier chat is text bubbled and adjusted for distance? So NCsoft has 3-D relation chat with the user?
I dont get it.....
More than likely, they chose NCSoft for the reason this reporter noted a few weeks ago:
"The usual procedure at this point is to line up the lawyers and demand money. Lots of money. Submarine patent enforcement strategy usually goes one of two ways. Either you basically hit a lot of people at once, hoping that a whole bunch of them will settle before any of the cases actually get to court, or you target an organization that is weak or has little in the way of cash reserves."
Oh, and, congrats to you, NCSoft. You are now, officially, the wounded gazelle of the MMO world! Avoid watering holes at all costs!
Well, you don't have to tell me that our legal system is messed up, but this is one of the most ridiculous cases I've heard of.
Essentially, Worlds.com is claiming to have exclusive rights to creating virtual online worlds. That's like someone claiming to have exclusive rights to create a picture with paint on a canvas. Those patents should never have been issued to them in the first place.
If they were to win this case, they could hypothetically sue every other MMO company listed on this site. Sounds like they are just bitter about their "virtual world" not being able to compete with all the other ones out there these days, so they are lashing out at a more successful company. I hope they get laughed out of court.
Another stupid patent infringement lawsuit wasting time and money. Seriously these people need to get a real job. Claiming patent on scalable client-server infrastructure is just ridiculous. US federal trade laws needs to be updated to stop stupid suits like that.
What we dont know is what 690 is specifically. For all we know 690 may be a specific programming that makes the globals system work. I dont see how this is a lawsuit addressing chat, this is addressing the issue of patent 690. You can't patent chat, but you can patent a program OF chat. I suspect that NCsoft chat programming and world's programming is too close for comfort. When in contrast SOE and Blizzard wrote chat programming that is totally different. Just my 2 cents.
It is so general it is pathic... yes, it is from Feb 20, 2007. Mostly all MMO's use this as their way to communicate between "server" and "client"... I can't think how this got through the screening, can't be general like this. The clerk must not been technical at all.
I read over the 690 and most of it made little sence without a whiteboard and the motivation to care enough to figure it out.
I am going to have to throw my worthless hat into the " too general to be a valid patent"
It appears to me to be a patent on a concept of chatting rather then an actual code issue.
I does seem they filed suit on NCsoft since thier chat is text bubbled and adjusted for distance? So NCsoft has 3-D relation chat with the user?
I dont get it.....
More than likely, they chose NCSoft for the reason this reporter noted a few weeks ago:
"The usual procedure at this point is to line up the lawyers and demand money. Lots of money. Submarine patent enforcement strategy usually goes one of two ways. Either you basically hit a lot of people at once, hoping that a whole bunch of them will settle before any of the cases actually get to court, or you target an organization that is weak or has little in the way of cash reserves."
Oh, and, congrats to you, NCSoft. You are now, officially, the wounded gazelle of the MMO world! Avoid watering holes at all costs!
Check quarterly reports, NCsoft makes more money out of their games than the rest, excepting Blizzard, even if TR failed.
They could have picked funcom, which games make around 1/2 of what Lineage I makes, Mythic, which games make 1/2 of what Lineage II makes, or SoE, which MMORPGs together can maybe compete against aion numbers in its Korean release.
u guys if this just so happens to go through hypothetically, then Aion will either dissapear or be delayed.... nooooooo!!!!! i dont really care about those other ncsoft games i guess guild wars will be their 2nd biggest loss then lineage
You have got to be kidding? Well then, they might as well sue Blizzard, SOE, Turbine, Funcom or any company that ha "Enabling Users to Interact in a Virtual Space: Stupid... And I remember their software,,,enjoyed at that time...but dang...this is stupid
Why stop there?
Theres all the F2P MMOs, then sites like GaiaOnline and IMVU!
Hell!
Why dont we sue everyone who's even messed around with trying to make a 3D MMO?
I'm sure a bunch of private servers would be liable as well to this :P
why not? ass clowns were prosecuting 12 year old girls for downloading songs and an old woman got a couple of million dollars for spilling hot coffee because she wasn't warned enough...
could we please get correspondent writers and moderators, on the eve forum at mmorpg.com, who are well-versed on eve-online and aren't just passersby pushing buttons? pretty please?
Worlds.com is jsut looking for an easy payout on a patent that is too broad. Also there is the statue of limitations to consider here...Lineage has been out for 10 years...City of Heros close to that andn Guild Wars 3....why are they waiting till now to bring suit? Sounds more like someone in Worlds.com's finances office got the idea to bring in more funds by suing NCSoft in hopes of a "settlement" and a piece of the pie. They didnt go after Sony or Blizzard cause they know that those two would blow them outta the water legally..so they looked for a smaller company to go after.
This will be tied up for years and Worlds.com cannot afford litgation for that long. Also, I worked for a patent lawyer and their patent ranks right up there with McDonalds trying to patent the sandwich maker a few months ago...its too broad and technically applies to all chat programs..not jus those in games. Ths would be the equivilent of Huntz trying to patent tomatoe ketcup.
I thought i was reading this nonsense wrong... how is this even a valid case. My guess is they started with ncsoft because they prolly thought they would be an easy target to start with, if they win then they have precident.
A company like sony or blizzard wouldve just steam rolled them and moved on.
I agree totally.
Since Szark posted this, I've been reading up as much as I can, and I just can't figure it out.
Now if NCSoft had used Worlds.com technology without permission, I could understand it. However, I can't find anywhere that even claims this is the case.
There's either more to this than is publicly available, or somebody has gone bonkers.
You could see the warning signs a few weeks ago with the Massively article.
Have you read the patent? It's a bloody process patent, not a technology patent. It doesn't matter whether or not the specific implementation matches the diagrams in 690--the rotten dogs pretty much patented MMORPGs with chat in them. It's pretty broad, but it's legit. They lucked out big time.
As for them going up against Sony or whomever--here's their client list:
IBM
VISA
Sony
MGM
Starbright Foundation
Absolute
Pearson PLC
Compaq Computer
Artisan Entertainment
David Bowie/Ultra Star
Aerosmith
Universal Pictures
WWF
Polygram
BT
Freeserve
Roadrunner
AOL
I don't think they'll be suing one of their own clients.
Companies have already licensed their tech. That lends validity to their claims. NCSoft will end up signing a licensing agreement, and Worlds.com will go away happy. Blizzard will be next, if they don't flat out license immediately. This is warning shot across a lot of bows; it's smart to target Asian corporations because they're usually the first to pony up. You rarely see them fighting patent infringement lawsuits. Once the precendent is set, all anyone can do is get in line.
I disagree in principle with anyone who holds a patent but has created no technology based on it. Worlds.com has working tech. I agree the patent is a bit of a submarine, but I don't see any way that companies can avoid it. Doing a patent search isn't that difficult anymore--I know, I've had to do them at work.
Comments
I think the people replying to this thread are missing something...
ANYONE can be sued for ANYTHING.
It does not mean that they will win, though.
a guy bought a motorhome and crashed it while he was on the freeway to get his toast that was ready and he sued them and got money back and a new free motorhome cause it didnt say anywhere that it wouldint drive it self or that he didint have to sit down while on the road
Correct sir!
I could in fact file suit on you for your name, and on MMORPG for letting you use that name. I would never see my day in court, and the court would more then likely repremand me for filing, BUT I could file suit.
So this would be the patent that worlds.com are talking about preventing NCsoft infringing on?
patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser
So there not only sueing them but trying to prevent them from using the technology/software, in other words trying to make NCsoft shut down there games?
The infringement accusation does seem extreme. As previously stated, the patent age is too young to encompass the entirety of NCSoft's games. If the lawsuit covers any of the games, it might have precedence on Tablula Rasa. If NCSoft can prove that the system was implemented before the patent was made then the lawsuit could be thrown out. I think what World Inc. is trying to prove is that NCSoft knowing and willingly infringed the patent during the pending patent process. Either way, it should be interesting to see the outcome.
This is just another blatant example of 'patent trolling'.
It is happening every day in USA. Your software patent laws are idiotic & these endless multimillion dollar law suits over nothig prove it.
Your politicians are allowing this to happen.
Lobby your politicians to get rid of or amend the stupid software patents laws or continue to watch endless millions & millions millions of your tax payer dollars getting pissed away by patent trolling.
Do you guys remember when the a company called SCO sued IBM for 'method's & concepts' of their IP supposedly in Linux. That cost IBM/REDHAT/Daimler Chrysler and many othersunbelievable amounts of money & IS STILL GOING ON!
Yes your legal system is broken.
You need to exercise you democratic freedom & kick you politicians who allowed this to happen.
AV
thats it.. im going to file a patent for posting text on a website in a threaded form where people can create new threads and respond to existing threads.... I will be rich!!!
Seriously, wtf... why do these idiots even bother wasting time and money when they know they will lose. Too bad NcSoft couldnt countersue for Worlds.com wasting their time.
Warp
From what i gathered from this piece of news is that worlds.com are more concerned about the " Scalable virtual world chat client-server system" patent that was taken out which was taken way back in April 17, 2001.....
Here is the 690 in question - patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser
It is so general it is pathic... yes, it is from Feb 20, 2007. Mostly all MMO's use this as their way to communicate between "server" and "client"... I can't think how this got through the screening, can't be general like this. The clerk must not been technical at all.
I have to ask: Why?
I think this is a completely ridiculous lawsuit, as it seems everyone else does. This is never going to happen. I can't believe they actually filed this.
"There are two great powers, and they've been fighting since time began. Every advance in human life, every scrap of knowledge and wisdom and decency we have has been torn by one side from the teeth of the other. Every little increase in human freedom has been fought over ferociously between those who want us to know more and be wiser and stronger, and those who want us to obey and be humble and submit."
John Parry, to his son Will; "The Subtle Knife," by Phillip Pullman
This is madness !
Seriously if they won, how many other games would this apply to ?
Hi all,
One thing i see on the patent is the "file Date: " 1996. That was way before some these games coming out. So I wonder if maybe there could be something here. It took the US government over 10 years to issue it. Your thoughts on this?
mech
"See you on the other side..."
See the quick gamelist tab at the top right of this page? All those games ...and them some lol
The Federal Courts have ruled against the use of Business Process Patents, with a case just recently on Oct 30th of this year. Seeing that this claim is based on a technical method, and not of actual code, I believe the legal team for NCSoft would use the cases of the Business Process Patents for support. The only difference of the two is that one is business and the other is technical.
Here is the news story and I think we can all agree that this case will be ruled in favor of NCSoft.
U.S. ruling may curb business method patents
WASHINGTON, Oct 30 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court has rejected patenting a way to smooth energy costs in a closely watched decision that could narrow the scope of "business method" patents.
The case turned on whether an inventor can patent an abstract process, something that involves nothing more than thoughts, and was closely watched by software makers, Internet companies, investment houses and other businesses.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled on Thursday that the patent application at issue was not tied to a machine and did not result in a transformation, both standards set by the U.S. Supreme Court for patentability.
www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINN3026126020081030
And that is why...
Conservatives' pessimism is conducive to their happiness in three ways. First, they are rarely surprised -- they are right more often than not about the course of events. Second, when they are wrong they are happy to be so. Third, because pessimistic conservatives put not their faith in princes -- government -- they accept that happiness is a function of fending for oneself. They believe that happiness is an activity -- it is inseparable from the pursuit of happiness.
Here is the 690 in question - patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser
It is so general it is pathic... yes, it is from Feb 20, 2007. Mostly all MMO's use this as their way to communicate between "server" and "client"... I can't think how this got through the screening, can't be general like this. The clerk must not been technical at all.
I read over the 690 and most of it made little sence without a whiteboard and the motivation to care enough to figure it out.
I am going to have to throw my worthless hat into the " too general to be a valid patent"
It appears to me to be a patent on a concept of chatting rather then an actual code issue.
I does seem they filed suit on NCsoft since thier chat is text bubbled and adjusted for distance? So NCsoft has 3-D relation chat with the user?
I dont get it.....
Here is the 690 in question - patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser
It is so general it is pathic... yes, it is from Feb 20, 2007. Mostly all MMO's use this as their way to communicate between "server" and "client"... I can't think how this got through the screening, can't be general like this. The clerk must not been technical at all.
I read over the 690 and most of it made little sence without a whiteboard and the motivation to care enough to figure it out.
I am going to have to throw my worthless hat into the " too general to be a valid patent"
It appears to me to be a patent on a concept of chatting rather then an actual code issue.
I does seem they filed suit on NCsoft since thier chat is text bubbled and adjusted for distance? So NCsoft has 3-D relation chat with the user?
I dont get it.....
More than likely, they chose NCSoft for the reason this reporter noted a few weeks ago:
"The usual procedure at this point is to line up the lawyers and demand money. Lots of money. Submarine patent enforcement strategy usually goes one of two ways. Either you basically hit a lot of people at once, hoping that a whole bunch of them will settle before any of the cases actually get to court, or you target an organization that is weak or has little in the way of cash reserves."
Oh, and, congrats to you, NCSoft. You are now, officially, the wounded gazelle of the MMO world! Avoid watering holes at all costs!
Well, you don't have to tell me that our legal system is messed up, but this is one of the most ridiculous cases I've heard of.
Essentially, Worlds.com is claiming to have exclusive rights to creating virtual online worlds. That's like someone claiming to have exclusive rights to create a picture with paint on a canvas. Those patents should never have been issued to them in the first place.
If they were to win this case, they could hypothetically sue every other MMO company listed on this site. Sounds like they are just bitter about their "virtual world" not being able to compete with all the other ones out there these days, so they are lashing out at a more successful company. I hope they get laughed out of court.
D&D Home Page - What Class Are You? - Build A Character - D&D Compendium
Another stupid patent infringement lawsuit wasting time and money. Seriously these people need to get a real job. Claiming patent on scalable client-server infrastructure is just ridiculous. US federal trade laws needs to be updated to stop stupid suits like that.
Here is the 690 in question - patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser
It is so general it is pathic... yes, it is from Feb 20, 2007. Mostly all MMO's use this as their way to communicate between "server" and "client"... I can't think how this got through the screening, can't be general like this. The clerk must not been technical at all.
I read over the 690 and most of it made little sence without a whiteboard and the motivation to care enough to figure it out.
I am going to have to throw my worthless hat into the " too general to be a valid patent"
It appears to me to be a patent on a concept of chatting rather then an actual code issue.
I does seem they filed suit on NCsoft since thier chat is text bubbled and adjusted for distance? So NCsoft has 3-D relation chat with the user?
I dont get it.....
More than likely, they chose NCSoft for the reason this reporter noted a few weeks ago:
"The usual procedure at this point is to line up the lawyers and demand money. Lots of money. Submarine patent enforcement strategy usually goes one of two ways. Either you basically hit a lot of people at once, hoping that a whole bunch of them will settle before any of the cases actually get to court, or you target an organization that is weak or has little in the way of cash reserves."
Oh, and, congrats to you, NCSoft. You are now, officially, the wounded gazelle of the MMO world! Avoid watering holes at all costs!
Check quarterly reports, NCsoft makes more money out of their games than the rest, excepting Blizzard, even if TR failed.
They could have picked funcom, which games make around 1/2 of what Lineage I makes, Mythic, which games make 1/2 of what Lineage II makes, or SoE, which MMORPGs together can maybe compete against aion numbers in its Korean release.
u guys if this just so happens to go through hypothetically, then Aion will either dissapear or be delayed.... nooooooo!!!!! i dont really care about those other ncsoft games i guess guild wars will be their 2nd biggest loss then lineage
or maybe these guys just decided to draw staws for which company to sue lol, ncsoft... probably not the best choice
Why stop there?
Theres all the F2P MMOs, then sites like GaiaOnline and IMVU!
Hell!
Why dont we sue everyone who's even messed around with trying to make a 3D MMO?
I'm sure a bunch of private servers would be liable as well to this :P
why not? ass clowns were prosecuting 12 year old girls for downloading songs and an old woman got a couple of million dollars for spilling hot coffee because she wasn't warned enough...
could we please get correspondent writers and moderators, on the eve forum at mmorpg.com, who are well-versed on eve-online and aren't just passersby pushing buttons? pretty please?
Worlds.com is jsut looking for an easy payout on a patent that is too broad. Also there is the statue of limitations to consider here...Lineage has been out for 10 years...City of Heros close to that andn Guild Wars 3....why are they waiting till now to bring suit? Sounds more like someone in Worlds.com's finances office got the idea to bring in more funds by suing NCSoft in hopes of a "settlement" and a piece of the pie. They didnt go after Sony or Blizzard cause they know that those two would blow them outta the water legally..so they looked for a smaller company to go after.
This will be tied up for years and Worlds.com cannot afford litgation for that long. Also, I worked for a patent lawyer and their patent ranks right up there with McDonalds trying to patent the sandwich maker a few months ago...its too broad and technically applies to all chat programs..not jus those in games. Ths would be the equivilent of Huntz trying to patent tomatoe ketcup.
Well said!
I agree totally.
Since Szark posted this, I've been reading up as much as I can, and I just can't figure it out.
Now if NCSoft had used Worlds.com technology without permission, I could understand it. However, I can't find anywhere that even claims this is the case.
There's either more to this than is publicly available, or somebody has gone bonkers.
You could see the warning signs a few weeks ago with the Massively article.
Have you read the patent? It's a bloody process patent, not a technology patent. It doesn't matter whether or not the specific implementation matches the diagrams in 690--the rotten dogs pretty much patented MMORPGs with chat in them. It's pretty broad, but it's legit. They lucked out big time.
As for them going up against Sony or whomever--here's their client list:
IBM
VISA
Sony
MGM
Starbright Foundation
Absolute
Pearson PLC
Compaq Computer
Artisan Entertainment
David Bowie/Ultra Star
Aerosmith
Universal Pictures
WWF
Polygram
BT
Freeserve
Roadrunner
AOL
I don't think they'll be suing one of their own clients.
Companies have already licensed their tech. That lends validity to their claims. NCSoft will end up signing a licensing agreement, and Worlds.com will go away happy. Blizzard will be next, if they don't flat out license immediately. This is warning shot across a lot of bows; it's smart to target Asian corporations because they're usually the first to pony up. You rarely see them fighting patent infringement lawsuits. Once the precendent is set, all anyone can do is get in line.
I disagree in principle with anyone who holds a patent but has created no technology based on it. Worlds.com has working tech. I agree the patent is a bit of a submarine, but I don't see any way that companies can avoid it. Doing a patent search isn't that difficult anymore--I know, I've had to do them at work.
Arguing with me will not make you right.