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Loktofeit
 Elite Member
Joined: 1/13/10
EVE in 2013 - DUST 514, CSM8, Fanfest, 10th Anniversary, Uprising, Odyssey. Gonna be a good year :) |
4/15/12 2:17:13 PM#21
Worlds Inc is the Tim Langdell of corporations.
filmoret: One thing I have never figured out is why the game devs hardly ever fix simple problems that arise. It is like they don't care about the pvp community. Nitth: What makes you so sure its a simple fix? filmoret: Because most of them are. Sometimes its just changing a number in a code string other times its creating a few variables. However none of them should take over a few hours of coding. |
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4/15/12 2:18:18 PM#22
The penguin faggots strike again. It worked on NCSoft so there s no reason it wont work on Blizz. The only way Blizz could win is disputing the patenting itself since games with the same patent already existed before the penguin faggots claimed it. |
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4/15/12 2:19:53 PM#23
Originally posted by Cavod It didn't. You settle out of court when you don't have a firm case. Meaning, if Worlds really thought they could win, they wouldn't be "settling" for anything. These are multi-billion dollar companies in a multi-trillion dollar industry, it's FAR easier to just throw people some cash (they probably won't miss it) so they shut up and go away than it is to take the time (and PR) to follow a lawsuit through to the end. Many of them go on for years, and often it's cheaper to pay people off than to pay for lawyers and court fees for a prolonged court battle. Cost of doing business, an unfortunate truth. "Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions." |
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4/15/12 2:20:56 PM#24
With the advent of internet and ever more rapid software development, current laws have to change. Because when in ten years three generations of computers pass, it is only nonsensical thing to copyright something for 20+ years(eternity in informatics).
That's all I have to say about that.  |
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4/15/12 2:22:49 PM#25
I guess you just haveto build in the relativity theroy into you rendering engine, then you are working in 4D and thus not under this patent... I hate silly patents... |
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Stizzled
 Gumshoe
Joined: 9/13/07
If you don't go when you want to go, when you do go, you'll find you've gone. |
4/15/12 2:24:43 PM#26
Originally posted by gaeanprayer That is exactly why it did work. Worlds went after NCSoft for compesation and they got it. The fact that NCSoft paid them to go away only strengthens the case against Activision-Blizzard. If Blizzard then pays them to go away they will just go after next largest company, most likely EA or Sony. Their patents cover pretty much every multiplayer game ever made. This company will never stop leeching off the work of others if these companies keep paying them to go away.
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Originally posted by gaeanprayer I'm claiming human fallibility before I go on.
What I believe happened it:
Worlds sues NCSoft NCSoft throws a bunch of stumbling blocks in their way Worlds works on said stumbling blocks NCSoft settles Worlds finishes stumbling block Worlds pursues lawsuit Judge throws out lawsuit based on previous settlement
That's what I got from piecing it together from multiple articles through all the legalese. We really need separate forums for every newly launched game. There can be the anti-<MMO> one and there can be the 'what general discussion should be' one. All the lamenting can happen together where each can find solace in like minded can't-move-on-ers leaving the rest of us to actually move forward and discuss meaningful and relevant topics. |
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GeezerGamer
 Advanced Member
Joined: 4/03/12
Who ever said "Familiarity breeds contempt" didn't have an internet connection. |
4/15/12 2:25:42 PM#28
Originally posted by gaeanprayer Yeah and because it's cheaper to pay these @$$hats to go away then to fight them, That's what happens. Then we as the consumer get shafted with the bill since the price of the next game has to go up to cover the loss. If the conversation turned "Tit-for-Tat", and I've stopped posting, Consider it your win. |
Originally posted by GeezerGamer Exactly my thoughts/concern. It also stifles new, lesser devs from getting started in the first place too. We really need separate forums for every newly launched game. There can be the anti-<MMO> one and there can be the 'what general discussion should be' one. All the lamenting can happen together where each can find solace in like minded can't-move-on-ers leaving the rest of us to actually move forward and discuss meaningful and relevant topics. |
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Stizzled
Gumshoe
Joined: 9/13/07
If you don't go when you want to go, when you do go, you'll find you've gone. |
4/15/12 2:28:19 PM#30
Originally posted by hfztt Even that wouldn't help. As I understand it, they hold several patents, one of which deals with the use of 'their' technology in a 3D environment. But, other patents deal with the use of the tech in any environment. Basically, they can go after any company that has ever produced a mutliplayer game.
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4/15/12 2:36:17 PM#31
Originally posted by GeezerGamer You, Cavod and Unreal are, unfortunately, absolutely right. But most companies don't want to take the time to win even if they could, because in the end as I said it's cheaper and less hassle. I wish it didn't work that way, it lets people get away with murder and like Unreal mentioned, it absolutely empowers them to go after more people, which is what they're doing with Blizzard now. I don't like it anymore that you guys do but good luck doing anything about it. On a positive note, Blizzard really ~does~ have the funds to follow it through till the end. It's really all about whether or not they have the principles to. "Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions." |
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4/15/12 2:39:56 PM#32
Sigh, some companies make money by suing others.... The reason why they suing Activision is becasue they have money, and might just settle out of court in order to avoid a lenghty trial. From reading the actual patents it seems that Worlds INC can sue any one which makes a online game today which is capbale of supporting multiple players, has phasing, instancing, cross "room"/"realm" how ever you want to call it today functinality such as global chat, or global ques and more. It seems that WI did nothing but patenting "ideas" that nested in just about every other game or software developer in the 90's but were not sufficiently implemented in games and other related sofware untill the last few years. Take their "earliest" patent for example: http://www.worlds.com/text/PatentNo1_6219045.pdf It basically defined an MMO today, it's like if id patented first person shooters after releasing CW(yes i know it wasnt the first, but it was the first that mattered). The funny thing is that they've recieved the patent after EQ was launched, and after MMO's began to swtich to 3D. I really hope that Activision wont cave in like NCSoft did back in 2010 and that Worlds Inc will lose their patent in court. There are tons of patents that are being aproved for things that were allready "invented" or "concieved" simply becasue there werent filed in the first place. Many patent clerks which aprove patents do display the best judgment in many cases they do not posses the knowledge to judge the validity of the patent in the first place. Sofware patents are even more nasty since you do not have to provide a prototype or produce and market a product with in 2 years. For some reason many of the sofware patents rules come from"copyright" laws and not patent laws.
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4/15/12 2:47:21 PM#33
The very idea of patents is slowing down development of new techonologies. |
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4/15/12 2:49:47 PM#34
They tried to sue Bioware but the judge threw the case out when they showed SWTOR was not a virtual world.
"i don't waste my time building relationship in games" - nariusseldon |
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4/15/12 2:50:43 PM#35
Since this is a USA only patent being contested in an American Court, any ruling that comes from it will only apply to companies that have their headquarters in the USA. Queue all MMO companies moving out of the USA. American companies, and government, need to realise that just because a ruling is granted in the USA does not mean it applies to the rest of the world. If they are successful all they will do is hurt American companies. If, as Dogma pointed out, the patent was granted after EQ was released, Bliz will be able to claim prior art which will invalidate the patent. I also suspect the patents wont hold up in a court of law as they only patented ideas, and not the way to implement them, and did not actually implement them themselves. Furthermore, a patents strength is reduced if a company does not actively defend it, and since they did nothing to defend their patent since the 90s, until they sued NCSoft(who foolishly settled to get them to go away) the strength of this patent is severely reduced. Cluck Cluck, Gibber Gibber, My Old Mans A Mushroom |
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4/15/12 2:58:42 PM#36
Originally posted by Quirhid To the contrary, software copyrights are absolutely essential. Without them, either the software industry wouldn't exist at all and we'd be limited to things that geeks code in their free time, or else every piece of commercial software in existence would have DRM vastly more intrusive than anything you've ever seen. Lets return to first principles on why patents, copyrights, and trademarks exist in the first place. The idea is to encourage more useful research and creative works to be done, so that society can enjoy the benefits. This isn't some new idea; to quote the US Constitution (written in 1787): "The Congress shall have Power... To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;" (For the benefit of non-Americans, the US Constitution is very unusual, and possibly entirely unique among constitutions in use, in that it gives a list of things that the US federal government can do, and then says that the federal government is not allowed to do anything else that isn't on the list. That's why the copyright clause had to be in there.) Note the point of copyrights: it's to promote the progress of science and arts. So why do software copyrights do this? Imagine that you've spent $10 million developing a computer game. Once the development is done, making a DVD and packing for the game costs $1 per copy. But you'd better sell each copy for a whole lot more than $1, as you need to make back the $10 million that you spent to develop the game just to break even. And you want to do more than that, as the reason your corporation exists is to make a profit, at least from the perspective of your stockholders. So on launch day, you start selling copies of your game at $50 each. If there aren't any copyright protections, what will happen? Someone will buy a DVD, start making copies of it, and selling the copies for $2 each. Now no one else is going to pay you $50 for the game, because they can get it for $2. So you get whatever you can sell in the first couple of hours or so, and then after that, you basically can't sell your game at a profit anymore. You've got no hope of making back the $10 million that it cost to develop the game. If there aren't copyright protections ahead of time, you can figure out that this is going to happen. So what do you do about it? You don't spend $10 million to develop the game in the first place. The company that would have developed the game won't exist, because no one would be willing to invest in a project that is sure to lose money. The trouble with software patents is that they don't merely say, you can't have this exact code base. They further say, you can't code from scratch anything vaguely similar to this. That doesn't just protect your game against everyone with a DVD burner. That would protect your game against other companies that would spend $10 million to develop their own game. That sort of protection doesn't do much to make your game less likely to be developed in the first place. It does a whole lot to make other games less likely to be developed later, as if other companies have to pay you $1 million to license your computer game patent, that raises the cost of developing their own games. For that matter, if the goal is to hurry up and patent something so that you can be a patent troll, you don't even care if your own game is any good. Promoting the hasty creation of bad games surely doesn't benefit society. So why do patents exist in the first place? Consider the pharmaceutical industry, which is probably where they're most essential. There are various compounds that aren't that hard to create, or sometimes even exist in nature, that are tremendously useful as medicine. The hard part is figuring out that they work as medicine and are safe enough to use as such. A drug company may spend several hundred million dollars to develop a drug and do the rigorous testing necessary to get FDA approval. Once the testing is done, however, making a month's supply of the drug might only cost $5. If generics are allowed to compete immediately, then you have no hope of making back the hundreds of millions of dollars that it cost to get the drug approved in the first place. So you're going to say, forget it, and not bother to develop life-saving medicines. Furthermore, copyright protection is of no use to you here. The generic version of your drug might not be produced in the same way. It might be something that is naturally occurring, so you can't plausibly claim that it was your invention. The hard part is determining that it has useful medicinal effects while being safe for humans to use. Software patents cause big problems, as stupid licensing fees and frivolous lawsuits from patent trolls drive up costs for everyone, and that gets passed on to consumers. The only real problem that software copyrights cause is that it lets game designers pull old games off the market entirely. Now that the Internet makes it cheap and easy to sell things online, I'd favor making it so that if a game (or book or song or whatever) is unavailable to obtain legally for five years, you lose the copyright and it becomes public domain. All that an author would need to do in order to maintain the copyright on an old book for the full 50 years or whatever is to have a deal like what Amazon does, where they'll list books for sale (often from a vanity press imprint) that they don't have any copies of in stock, but if you want to buy one, they'll print one copy of the book for you and mail it. |
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4/15/12 3:08:53 PM#37
Originally posted by Remains Doesnt offend me. You are 100% correct. Not that other countries dont have times that look just as bad. I think the movie "Idiocracy" should be required in school. Sometimes it sure feels like thats where this country is heading.
Edited for the neckbeards out there: I wouldnt trade being an American for anything. Doesnt mean I have to like everything that goes on. |
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4/15/12 3:12:38 PM#38
Originally posted by xenogias Wasn't Abraham Lincoln a neckbeard? "i don't waste my time building relationship in games" - nariusseldon |
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Originally posted by stragen001 from the forbes article: "When Worlds’ initial patents were filed in 1995 the major constraints for multiplayer online gaming were bandwidth and PC processing power."
"These games have been around for years. Why are you going to court now? The timing for the lawsuit was based upon the additional continuation patents that Worlds has recently received over the prior art, as well as independent analysis."
In no way am I on their side or defending them but they do have a case... as messed up and lacking common sense as it is. We really need separate forums for every newly launched game. There can be the anti-<MMO> one and there can be the 'what general discussion should be' one. All the lamenting can happen together where each can find solace in like minded can't-move-on-ers leaving the rest of us to actually move forward and discuss meaningful and relevant topics. |
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4/15/12 3:23:11 PM#40
Problem with USA patent system (which unfortunatelly many lobbysts, some private companies and even USA gov tried to spread to other countries) is that it allow to to patent IDEAS and some general , simple hmm mechanisms.
Patent for making a piece of software mimick virtual world with idea of people connecting to it throught internet?
Thing is something like that never should be able to be 'pattentable'.
Similar thing was with Apple I believe patent for 'browsing through photos on touch screen by swapping them from left to right' (or simialr my english sucks today).
Damn seriously things like that never should be able to get a patent.
It is same thing as getting pattent on 'vehicle on wheels that able to move on the gound'.
Patents are needed to protect IMPLEMENTATIONS not ideas.
Protect not concept of engine but SPECIFIC technologies to build certain engine.
Current patent system was working for quite some time ,but in last years it is starting to become a break to technologic progress.
After all - If I invest alot of time & money into building and developing something let's say a program and someone sue me few years after cause he patented idea of a similar programm - then I am better to invest my money into something else than creating and developing things.
Sure I can check up if similar patent exist - but you really really wanna know how much it costs to make an detailed check if IDEA like that was not patented already? I will answer - dozens of thousands of dollars even for small projects , extensive check may cost hundred of thousands.
Sick system that is in a favour of biggest and richest companies and screwing over all the rest. |
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