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Worlds at War
JestorRodo
Member UncommonPosts: 2,642
This just drove me nuts that this little piss ant patent holder is going after Nsoft and not Blizzard or SOE.
From: www.bit-tech.net/news/2009/01/06/ncsoft-sued-by-worlds-com/1
NCSoft sued by MMO patent holders
Author: Joe Martin
Published: 6th January 2009
Comments (15) Email to a friend Stumble
If valid, Worlds.com's patent would precede even Ultima Online and open all MMO publishers to lawsuits.
If valid, Worlds.com's patent would precede even Ultima Online and open all MMO publishers to lawsuits.
This is a little late and that admittedly owes a lot to the extended Christmas holiday, but MMO publisher NCSoft is being sued for patent infringement by Worlds.com, a virtual world platform.
The lawsuit is based around a patent that was filed way back in 2000 for a suitably vague "system and method for enabling users to interact in a virtual space". The wording of the patent means that it could pretty much apply to any MMO or online world in existence.
The lawsuit itself was filed against the NCSoft Texas offices on Christmas Eve and targets all of the publishers previous games, which isn't a small number. The Korean-based NCSoft has been behind pretty much every decent non-Blizzard MMO out there, whether it be Lineage or City of Heroes. The company also published Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa, though that didn't do so well.
Interestingly however the patent owned by Worlds.com, which could also be used to sue Blizzard or Sony Online Entertainment, was filed only after some of the first MMOs, such as Everquest, were published.
Stephen Roth, lead attorney for Worlds.com, disputes this issue however by saying that the patent was first filed back in 1995. If true then that would mean that Worlds.com does indeed own a pretty valid patent on the MMO model - one which predates even Ultima Online.
NCSoft has said that it will vigorously defend itself from these claims, but if the patent is as valid as it looks then it may not make much of a difference.
Is this a valid claim from Worlds.com or is the legal system just being further abused by money-hungry shareholders? ENDQUTOE
I vote for the latter but I must investigate this Worlds.com. If they did hold and patent and were too stupid to act in another words make an MMO then F*** them.
And its a bully like tactic to go after a small MMO instead of mess ing with one that has a real legal dept like my old buddy Sheriff Andy and his deputies over at SOE.
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Comments
If their interest was truly to claim rights instead of just get money, wouldn't they have done this a long time ago?
You would think - visiting their web site answered my question about SOE -
From: worlds.com/clients.html
Some of Worlds clients include:
IBM
VISA
Sony
MGM
Starbright Foundation
Absolute
Pearson PLC
Compaq Computer
Artisan Entertainment
David Bowie/Ultra Star
Aerosmith
Universal Pictures
WWF ( Jestor - the animals or the wrestlers?)
Polygram
BT
Freeserve
Roadrunner
AOL ENDQUOTE
Oh MY! OK then , submitted for your approval. You, the mighty SOE has the DCUO coming out in the next year and your biggest competitor is a very successful Super Hero MMO company that is planning on releasing their next Super Hero MMO this year before yours... now how could you slow them down or stop them?
Are you following me? Good , I knew that you could.
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soe=evil
The development of UO predates their patent application, and other than the original SWG (the good one not the crappy current one) UO was the MOST vitrual world'ish MMO ever.
FYI: UO wasn't the first ever MMO, "Neverwinter Nights" on AOL came out in 1991!
No way in hell this patent isn't obvious anyway. Besides, a virtual world doesn't have to be a MMORPG to invalidate this patent, pretty much any sandbox game that existed previously that had virtual world mechanics. Games such as Pirates! (1987), and Elite (1981?) would also qualify as prior art.
I wonder why Sony is a "customer" of this company? Could they be by proxy funding their legal harassment of a competitor by buying a "license" they don't need much as Microsoft funded SCO's baseless lawsuit against IBM, Red Hat, and Novell in that manner?
PS: I seriously doubt that DCMMO is the slightest threat to COH/COV or Cryptic's own planned new superhero game. From what those of us in the former SWG player community have seen in following this, the DCMMO Dev team has been a revolving door of failed Devs and producers who came from the SWG NGE.
And they've burned through a few of those even. From what I've heard they can't keep a Dev team on that game because of excessive micro-mismanagement coming from Smed and other senior managers at SOE who see DCMMO as the "save our asses" release. That game's current lead Dev once said that he'd install a toilet in the living room if his bosses told him to do so. So much for creativity.
And you have The Realm for us foggies and muds. Enough said.
FYI: Neverwinters Nights is in no way an MMO never has been never will be, Does not resemble one in any way.. It is not a Massive persistent world.
Its a coop multi player static playground.
They're testing the waters.
If this lawsuit works...they'll go for the bigger fish.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Guys! I'm hopelessly lost in a mountain of mole hills! Them damn moles!
FYI: Neverwinters Nights is in no way an MMO never has been never will be, Does not resemble one in any way.. It is not a Massive persistent world.
Its a coop multi player static playground.
You don't even have a clue.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverwinter_Nights_(AOL_game)
video.google.com/videosearch
This just shows how out of touch the patent office has gotten. This patent is bogus and will not hold up in court. Hope NC Soft counter sues them for needless harrassment.
FYI: Neverwinters Nights is in no way an MMO never has been never will be, Does not resemble one in any way.. It is not a Massive persistent world.
Its a coop multi player static playground.
You don't even have a clue.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverwinter_Nights_(AOL_game)
video.google.com/videosearch
Lol really now dont care what that says and anyone with a lil common sense knows Neverwinter Nights is not an MMO .. Lol even the develpoers know its not an MMO ... hmm odd never Winter Nights 2 is not listed as an mmo .. exact same mechainics.. But if Wiki says it must be lmao...
You are thinking of this Neverwinter Nights which was made by Bioware not the one that was with AOL.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverwinter_Nights
FYI: Neverwinters Nights is in no way an MMO never has been never will be, Does not resemble one in any way.. It is not a Massive persistent world.
Its a coop multi player static playground.
You don't even have a clue.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverwinter_Nights_(AOL_game)
video.google.com/videosearch
Lol really now dont care what that says and anyone with a lil common sense knows Neverwinter Nights is not an MMO .. Lol even the develpoers know its not an MMO ... hmm odd never Winter Nights 2 is not listed as an mmo .. exact same mechainics.. But if Wiki says it must be lmao...
You are thinking of this Neverwinter Nights which was made by Bioware not the one that was with AOL.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverwinter_Nights
No im not , and the videos only prove that it was not in all the videos not once is there another player anywhere in any of the enviroment interacting with another player or part of the enviroment in way shape or form.. If this is an MMO so is Neopets lmao
Dude read it again
NOT Neverwinter Nights by Bioware, were not talking about that game, its a DIFFERENT game made before it with THE SAME NAME.
This case is being discussed in great detail in the News forum:
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/217360
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im to lazy too use grammar or punctuation good
You don't even have a clue.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverwinter_Nights_(AOL_game)
video.google.com/videosearch
Lol really now dont care what that says and anyone with a lil common sense knows Neverwinter Nights is not an MMO .. Lol even the develpoers know its not an MMO ... hmm odd never Winter Nights 2 is not listed as an mmo .. exact same mechainics.. But if Wiki says it must be lmao...
You are thinking of this Neverwinter Nights which was made by Bioware not the one that was with AOL.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverwinter_Nights
No im not , and the videos only prove that it was not in all the videos not once is there another player anywhere in any of the enviroment interacting with another player or part of the enviroment in way shape or form.. If this is an MMO so is Neopets lmao
There weren't exactly a lot of people willing to pay $6.00 an hour to play a game in 1991.
"Oh MY! OK then , submitted for your approval. You, the mighty SOE has the DCUO coming out in the next year and your biggest competitor is a very successful Super Hero MMO company that is planning on releasing their next Super Hero MMO this year before yours... now how could you slow them down or stop them?
Are you following me? Good , I knew that you could."
*Sigh* And the short bus goes round and round...
Don't slip in the drool...
That Guild Wars 2 login screen knocked up my wife. Must be the second coming!
spot on.
if this vague part is correct however i fully expect the (expensive) lawyers working for NCoft to completly rip them apart on that small issue.
i think its crazy that these guys are only now coming forward and demanding money, 10+ years after thier patent was filed and when the industry is booming.
sounds like someone is really desperate for cash
MMO wish list:
-Changeable worlds
-Solid non level based game
-Sharks with lasers attached to their heads
Don't think they'll going to get any money due to their abnormal outstretched lenght before acting. Have they lurked the market past 12 years and waited for houndreds of games to be released before acting? Transparent.
They'll might be able to sue someone in the states, but not elsewere.
______________________________
The Sceptics, yes they're special but we've need them to.. I guess.
And if they're put more effort MMORPG.com can create a 'Team Sceptic'
and send them to the Special Olympus.
Now , Now TW, just because you get a lot of exercise being chased by squirrels around Walney Oaks thinking that they have found the biggest nut in Chantilly does not allow you to imply my mental stability is no less what it should be.
Perhaps you have a better reason why this amazing suddenly appearing company has filed suited against NSoft opposed to Blizzard ( they have all the money) but as you can see they will not go after one of their world Clients , Sony and by extension SOE themselves.
Here is another quoted source - pulse2.com/category/judith-challinger/
Attorney Stephen Roth of Lerner David, Westfield, N.J. stated that he could not discuss what other companies that Worlds.com plans to bring into the lawsuit. But he did mention that there are “certainly other companies that could come within the scope of our patent claims” according to Mediapost.com. The patent allows Worlds.com to recover 6 years damages, but is only allowed to collect damages from the date the patent was issued.
Others that could be affected by this lawsuit includes Linden Lab for Second Life and Microsoft for their Xbox avatar system. ENDQUOTE
... But not The PS3 World.... by really why Nsoft first.? Why not Second Life or Xbox?
It appears to me that yes, the parties of Worlds did come up with the idea back in 1996 but did nothing with it .
Strange stuff , the Patent was in California but the company in now based in Massachusetts. Wonder why?
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spot on.
if this vague part is correct however i fully expect the (expensive) lawyers working for NCoft to completly rip them apart on that small issue.
i think its crazy that these guys are only now coming forward and demanding money, 10+ years after thier patent was filed and when the industry is booming.
sounds like someone is really desperate for cash
The patent didn't issue until 2007. How were they supposed to sue anyone before then?
____________________________________________
im to lazy too use grammar or punctuation good
spot on.
if this vague part is correct however i fully expect the (expensive) lawyers working for NCoft to completly rip them apart on that small issue.
i think its crazy that these guys are only now coming forward and demanding money, 10+ years after thier patent was filed and when the industry is booming.
sounds like someone is really desperate for cash
The patent didn't issue until 2007. How were they supposed to sue anyone before then?
From: patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser
Inventors: Leahy; Dave (Oakland, CA), Challinger; Judith (Santa Cruz, CA), Adler; B. Thomas (San Francisco, CA), Ardon; S. Mitra (San Francisco, CA)
Assignee: Worlds, Inc. (San Francisco, CA)
Appl. No.: 08/747,420
Filed: November 12, 1996
And in checking the other thread -What is Habitat?
Habitat is a "multi-player online virtual environment" (its purpose is to be an entertainment medium; consequently, the users are called "players"). Each player uses his or her home computer as a frontend, communicating over a commercial packet-switching data network to a centralized backend system. The frontend provides the user interface, generating a real-time animated display of what is going on and translating input from the player into requests to the backend. The backend maintains the world model, enforcing the rules and keeping each player's frontend informed about the constantly changing state of the universe. The backend enables the players to interact not only with the world but with each other.
Habitat was inspired by a long tradition of "computer hacker science fiction", notably Vernor Vinge's novel, True Names (Vinge, 1981), as well as many fond childhood memories of games of make-believe, more recent memories of role-playing games and the like, and numerous other influences too thoroughly blended to pinpoint. To this we added a dash of silliness, a touch of cyberpunk (Gibson, 1984; Sterling, 1986), and a predilection for object-oriented programming (Sussman and Abelson, 1985).
The initial incarnation of Habitat uses a Commodore 64 for the frontend (see note 1). Figure 1 is a typical screen from this version of the system. The largest part of the screen is devoted to the graphics display. This is an animated view of the player's current location in the Habitat world. The scene consists of various objects arrayed on the screen, such as the houses and tree you see here. The players are represent by animated figures that we call "Avatars". Avatars are usually, though not exclusively, humanoid in appearance. In this scene you can see two of them, carrying on a conversation.
Avatars can move around, pick up, put down and manipulate objects, talk to each other, and gesture, each under the control of an individual player. Control is through the joystick, which enables the player to point at things and issue commands. Talking is accomplished by typing on the keyboard. The text that a player types is displayed over his or her Avatar's head in a cartoon-style "word balloon".
ad about LuscasArts "Habitat" From: 74.125.45.132/search
Habitat predates Worlds patent - Nsoft should counter . What I find funny is the the StarBright Foundation of Steven Speilberg is a World client of Worlds and My old buddy George had the idea first.
Unaware of the Jestor?
http://about.me/JestorRodo/
Friends enjoy his classic Vblog - https://www.facebook.com/GoodOldReliableNathan
spot on.
if this vague part is correct however i fully expect the (expensive) lawyers working for NCoft to completly rip them apart on that small issue.
i think its crazy that these guys are only now coming forward and demanding money, 10+ years after thier patent was filed and when the industry is booming.
sounds like someone is really desperate for cash
The patent didn't issue until 2007. How were they supposed to sue anyone before then?
From: patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser
Inventors: Leahy; Dave (Oakland, CA), Challinger; Judith (Santa Cruz, CA), Adler; B. Thomas (San Francisco, CA), Ardon; S. Mitra (San Francisco, CA)
Assignee: Worlds, Inc. (San Francisco, CA)
Appl. No.: 08/747,420
Filed: November 12, 1996
And in checking the other thread -What is Habitat?
Habitat is a "multi-player online virtual environment" (its purpose is to be an entertainment medium; consequently, the users are called "players"). Each player uses his or her home computer as a frontend, communicating over a commercial packet-switching data network to a centralized backend system. The frontend provides the user interface, generating a real-time animated display of what is going on and translating input from the player into requests to the backend. The backend maintains the world model, enforcing the rules and keeping each player's frontend informed about the constantly changing state of the universe. The backend enables the players to interact not only with the world but with each other.
Habitat was inspired by a long tradition of "computer hacker science fiction", notably Vernor Vinge's novel, True Names (Vinge, 1981), as well as many fond childhood memories of games of make-believe, more recent memories of role-playing games and the like, and numerous other influences too thoroughly blended to pinpoint. To this we added a dash of silliness, a touch of cyberpunk (Gibson, 1984; Sterling, 1986), and a predilection for object-oriented programming (Sussman and Abelson, 1985).
The initial incarnation of Habitat uses a Commodore 64 for the frontend (see note 1). Figure 1 is a typical screen from this version of the system. The largest part of the screen is devoted to the graphics display. This is an animated view of the player's current location in the Habitat world. The scene consists of various objects arrayed on the screen, such as the houses and tree you see here. The players are represent by animated figures that we call "Avatars". Avatars are usually, though not exclusively, humanoid in appearance. In this scene you can see two of them, carrying on a conversation.
Avatars can move around, pick up, put down and manipulate objects, talk to each other, and gesture, each under the control of an individual player. Control is through the joystick, which enables the player to point at things and issue commands. Talking is accomplished by typing on the keyboard. The text that a player types is displayed over his or her Avatar's head in a cartoon-style "word balloon".
ad about LuscasArts "Habitat" From: 74.125.45.132/search
Habitat predates Worlds patent - Nsoft should counter . What I find funny is the the StarBright Foundation of Steven Speilberg is a World client of Worlds and My old buddy George had the idea first.
Nothing that you copied there indicates that Habitat would anticipate the claims of Worlds' patent.
____________________________________________
im to lazy too use grammar or punctuation good
spot on.
if this vague part is correct however i fully expect the (expensive) lawyers working for NCoft to completly rip them apart on that small issue.
i think its crazy that these guys are only now coming forward and demanding money, 10+ years after thier patent was filed and when the industry is booming.
sounds like someone is really desperate for cash
The patent didn't issue until 2007. How were they supposed to sue anyone before then?
From: patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser
Inventors: Leahy; Dave (Oakland, CA), Challinger; Judith (Santa Cruz, CA), Adler; B. Thomas (San Francisco, CA), Ardon; S. Mitra (San Francisco, CA)
Assignee: Worlds, Inc. (San Francisco, CA)
Appl. No.: 08/747,420
Filed: November 12, 1996
And in checking the other thread -What is Habitat?
Habitat is a "multi-player online virtual environment" (its purpose is to be an entertainment medium; consequently, the users are called "players"). Each player uses his or her home computer as a frontend, communicating over a commercial packet-switching data network to a centralized backend system. The frontend provides the user interface, generating a real-time animated display of what is going on and translating input from the player into requests to the backend. The backend maintains the world model, enforcing the rules and keeping each player's frontend informed about the constantly changing state of the universe. The backend enables the players to interact not only with the world but with each other.
Habitat was inspired by a long tradition of "computer hacker science fiction", notably Vernor Vinge's novel, True Names (Vinge, 1981), as well as many fond childhood memories of games of make-believe, more recent memories of role-playing games and the like, and numerous other influences too thoroughly blended to pinpoint. To this we added a dash of silliness, a touch of cyberpunk (Gibson, 1984; Sterling, 1986), and a predilection for object-oriented programming (Sussman and Abelson, 1985).
The initial incarnation of Habitat uses a Commodore 64 for the frontend (see note 1). Figure 1 is a typical screen from this version of the system. The largest part of the screen is devoted to the graphics display. This is an animated view of the player's current location in the Habitat world. The scene consists of various objects arrayed on the screen, such as the houses and tree you see here. The players are represent by animated figures that we call "Avatars". Avatars are usually, though not exclusively, humanoid in appearance. In this scene you can see two of them, carrying on a conversation.
Avatars can move around, pick up, put down and manipulate objects, talk to each other, and gesture, each under the control of an individual player. Control is through the joystick, which enables the player to point at things and issue commands. Talking is accomplished by typing on the keyboard. The text that a player types is displayed over his or her Avatar's head in a cartoon-style "word balloon".
ad about LuscasArts "Habitat" From: 74.125.45.132/search
Habitat predates Worlds patent - Nsoft should counter . What I find funny is the the StarBright Foundation of Steven Speilberg is a World client of Worlds and My old buddy George had the idea first.
Nothing that you copied there indicates that Habitat would anticipate the claims of Worlds' patent.
Ok then lets go with this then: www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php
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.
and to get a date on Habitat: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat_(video_game)
Lucasfilm's Habitat, Qlink's Club Caribe, Fujitsu Habitat, WorldsAway, and others.
Developer(s) Lucasfilm Games, Quantum Link, Fujitsu
Publisher(s) Quantum Link, Fujitsu
Designer(s) Chip Morningstar, Randy Farmer, and many others
Platform(s) Commodore 64 FM Towns Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)
Flag of the United States Habitat (Beta): Q2 1986
Flag of the United States Club Caribe: Q3 1988
Flag of Japan Fujitsu Habitat: Q3 1990
Flag of the United States WorldsAway: Q3 1994
[citation needed]
Genre(s) MMORPG Virtual World Avatar
Mode(s) Multiplayer
Rating(s) ESRB: Teen
Media Floppy Disk CD
System requirements Habitat and Club Caribe:Commodore 64 or FM Towns;
WorldsAway:Intel 486 CPU, 8 MB RAM;
Dreamscape: DirectX 5;
All: Modem or Internet access
Input methods Keyboard, joystick, mouse
I was still doing BBSs at that time but that was ten years before Worlds Patent -
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Nope, still 100% fail. Try again.
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im to lazy too use grammar or punctuation good
Well , if you like went back to the News thread about this subject it was mentioned that "Habitat" existed before the patent by Worlds - 10 years before.
It should be one of the main evidences to counter Worlds claim.
I am sure that there is more.
Unaware of the Jestor?
http://about.me/JestorRodo/
Friends enjoy his classic Vblog - https://www.facebook.com/GoodOldReliableNathan
Well , if you like went back to the News thread about this subject it was mentioned that "Habitat" existed before the patent by Worlds - 10 years before.
It should be one of the main evidences to counter Worlds claim.
I am sure that there is more.
In order for that to be relevant, Habitat has to have used the same technology that is claimed in the patent. After many attempts, I have yet to get anyone to demonstrate that anything prior to the patent did so.
Chess existed before the patent too. That doesn't mean the patent is invalid.
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im to lazy too use grammar or punctuation good