Here’s a story that hit during our week off – it’s one you probably already know about, but as it’s potentially something that’s very bad news for PC gaming, it’s only fair and right to give you fine folks a convenient place to discuss it. Massively (thanks, Larington) has one of the better summations and explorations of what’s going, as they seem to have clever people with some grasp of law on their staff. RPS, by contrast, has a philosopher, a youth worker, a biologist and a literature graduate. We’re no good at this stuff.
The crux of the story, though, concerns patents 6,219,045 and 7,181,690. In (something like) English, those refer to “scalable virtual world client-server chat system” and “system and method for enabling users to interact in a virtual space”. There’s space for a lot of give and take in those descriptions, but you get the point – two fundaments of pretty much every MMO past, present, and probably future.
On Christmas Eve (Christmas Eve. Man!) one Worlds.com, which currently creates, as well as its own long-running Second Lifey app, 3D virtual worlds for various clients (most recently legendary hip-hop fella DMC and Aerosmith, amusingly) flexed its patent-muscle in the direction of MMO publisher/developer NCsoft. It first filed the terrible twosome in 1996 and 2001 respectively. In other words – it does rather look as though they’ve potentially got the MMO industry by the short and curlies. In theory, Worlds can go after everyone. God only knows what they could squeeze out of Blizzard.
Rather than hitting a bunch of developers/publishers at once, though, it’s picked on a straggler – presumably in the hope of setting a precedent for future, bigger wins. It’s no secret that NCsoft isn’t in the rudest of health right now (look to the impending closure of Tabula Rasa, for instance). So they may well lack the resources to mount an impentrable defence. They’re possibly easier prey than one of the bigger boys – but prey that does nevertheless have some cash to seize.
Or at least that was the popular theory. The most recent revelation is that NCsoft hadn’t been legally served with the suit, even though it’s been filed. Filed, served, tomayto, tomato, God knows. The thing is that time’s running out for notice to be served, otherwise the whole thing dries up. Which, we’ll agree, is probably worth crossing our fingers for. Not just for the sake of MMOs today and tomorrow, but because, well, read those patent titles again. They theoretically apply to any and every online multiplayer game. Erk.
If notice is served in time, the best hope for Worlds case falling over is, apparently, a judgement that there isn’t really any other way for games to achieve what the patents cover – that it’s like trying to patent eating, or juggling.
Let’s hope the court, if it makes it that far, does feel that way. Much hinges on this – too much. Someone like Blizzard can probably stomach a big cash-squeeze, but other smaller fellas could be badly hurt by it. Then there’s what it would mean for future multiplayer games… Worlds.com: you are top-tier meanies.
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Lives, damn you, lives!
*gets back to mixing potions*
there is definitely 3d multiplayer games before 1996
multiplayer battle tech was one of them .
Perhaps Blizzard should lend them some lawyers from the bucket.
In all seriousness, the large US-interest MMO companies should band together, a loss for NCSoft makes it all the more expensive for whoever’s next on the list.
2009: Year of the depressing news?
Tangent: Peter Moore wonders why World of Goo won a Eurogamer award rather than his novel arthouse hit Fifa 09:
http://itsinthegame.ea.com/archive/2009/01/01/wtf-where-the-hell-is-fifa-09.aspx
P.
I think this is the proof that the current patent system is pretty fucked up, just look at what kind of stuff MS and Apple patent, some so obvious and widespread in use that it is just awkward. Although they have a reason to do so, so that noone else can do it and file a suit on them, called patenttrolling….
I think this is the proof that the current patent system is pretty fucked up
It’s really only US patent law, and particularly software patents, that are “fucked up”, and the US jurisdiction and entirely OTT costs of prosecution in the US don’t help, either.
Is that a invention?, looks to me like a solution to a common problem. 2+2= Can you patent “4″?
lame, USA patente system, very lame.
This, this right here, is why IP law SUCKS.
The part of my brain that tries to force everything into the convenient narrative moulds of television drama just envisioned an eleventh hour backroom meeting between Blizzard and NC Soft, where Blizzard offers them the use of their ace legal team. This, of course, occurs after our plucky, somewhat naive hero–an up and coming NC Soft executive who hasn’t yet bought into the soulless cult of corporation–has undergone great personal trials in order to convince the behemoth software developer that his/her plan would really benefit everyone.
I’m with Ted and jonfitt; if they win I can’t see them gutting this golden goose. Just take 0.001% of everything and retire to the custom built space station of your choice. Crazier things have happened though.
And yeah, Blizzard and others might want to help NCsoft out on this. And anyone with any vague ideas on expansive worlds with chatting, say… Google for instance. The EFF should probably turn up on principle and everyone can have a good look at this.
On the other hand I wouldn’t be surprised if the big boys are thinking awful hard about their defense so that they don’t set any precedents which conflict with future patents they might like to make.
On this scan of the patent, the internet words LOL are used.
http://www.google.com/patents?id=wv5-AAAAEBAJ&pg=PA3&dq=7,181,690&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=1_1
And LOL is a good comment about a patent, that simple patent “limiting sending the coordinates of players to these in sight of the player”.
Thats what BSP is all about, portalization, VISing, etc.. only this patent as ZERO technology in it, it only expose the problem, not how the problem is solved.
This is like me patenting teleportation as:
“Moving people from point A to point B”, withouth zero ideas about how to do that.
The patent is stupid, as zero originality, and as zero technology in it. Because it describe ZERO ways to solve problems, it only describe a problem that is soo common, any 3d (or 2D) chat will meet.
Please, ban this World.com guys from existence into oblivium.
@BooleanBob: What is the difference between a man and a parasite?
Men wear shoes.
There needs to be sharper regulation on gaming patents. This is far too general and unspecific – like a patent against having men aged 25-40 wearing hats in a major motion picture. The problem isn’t just that Worlds.com are taking action over this patent (and how cynical to take down the weaker, injured and limping studio from the pack rather than alpha male Blizzard) it’s that they managed to file the patent in the first place.
Widiculous.
By that logic, RTS genre would have been patented long ago and alot of people would have been sued today. Worlds.com will lose.
So did I get this right? This is a US patent that is only enforceable in the US?
Yes. You can’t patent software in the EU. You can only copyright it. So worst case is, that this would close WoW in the US, but nothing would happen in the rest of the world. More realistically, they are just going to force everyone to pay them for using their patent.
This fills me with hate and annoyance. Not that I play any online MMO games but seriously, guys, this sucks. I remember reading about software patents that still exist (possibly on here) that have some really good ideas, now condemned to be kept to one company. There’s a vague statement if ever there was one…
Time Line for Worlds.com and its prior art
1994 The original team put together Worlds Chat, including Dave Leahy, Andrea Gallagher, Wolf Schmidt, Judy Challinger, Syed Asif Hassan, Farshid Meshgali, Kurt Kokko, John Navitsky, Naggi Asmar, David Tolley and many others. Jeff Robinson (a.k.a. Scamper, the Combat Wombat) working with Helen Cho was World Chat’s first artist, and is responsible for much of the “better-lit alien” look of the space station.
1995
Ron Britvich joined KAW. He worked on the AlphaWorld (renamed Active Worlds) project inside KAW, along with the “official” product Worlds Chat. KAW was renamed as Worlds Inc. Lynne Ann and Danny Viescas joined Worlds Inc. as avatar and object makers, David Leahy was the Integrator and Producer for Worlds 1994 -1997. He developed Cyber Oz City.
Well, Meridian 59 was launched on 27. September 1996 while the patent was filed at 12. November 1996.
But without beeing a patent lawyer, I’m not even trying to guess if it’s prior art or not.
Jesus, that 1up thing is bullshit.
@Helio: Yeah, big business claims yet more victims. [Sighs]
Men and (possibly) women of the RPS comments thread. May I present to you my first witness. Mr Doom, would you please take to the stand. Can you please tell us what you did in 1993?
“I brought my charm into the world, allowing up to four people to play together”.
Did people talk?
“Why yes. How else could they share obscenities?”
Fascinating! But why only four people?
“We didn’t have the technology capable of more. Given a few years, I’m sure we could’ve had hundreds of people playing together”.
And there we have it! You heard it yourself! A “scalable virtual world client-server chat system” and “system and method for enabling users to interact in a virtual space” in 1993, 3 years before the first patent was placed! Similarly, a Mr. Ultima Online began his life in 2005 and was shown to the world in May 2006, 6 months before the first patent was filed. These patents cannot be held due to patenting ideas and inventions of other people that already existed. I rest my case.
PS: I’m guessing that if there is a jury, half will be WoW fans, while the rest play other MMOs or have dabbled.
So lets get this straight. The first patent
“scalable virtual world client-server chat system”
was filed in 1996. So the first only covers server side chat, like in many really basic MUDs that have already been mentioned had for ages before the patent was filed.
And the second
“system and method for enabling users to interact in a virtual space”
in 2001, seems even weaker. Early multi-player FPS had users “interacting” in 3d “virtual space.” The famous Quake 3 had been around for 2 years IIRC. (I may not though :D)
And arguably Doom’s LAN mode, released in 1993, invalidates both patents.
Seems weak to me.
There’s every economic incentive for the patent office to grant patents, and none for them to deny crap ones.
Anyone with common sense knows where that leads.
Speaking of PC legalese, anyone catch this:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5439604.ece
Only really relevant to fellow Brits, but if I get the jist of it, the police may legally gain access to your PC and files without a warrant showing due cause etc.
Lousy liberty-infringing government. :(
don’t jump to assumptions that the title of a patent is exactly what the patent covers: the coverage of a patent is defined by the claims of the patent.
The first claim of the earlier case is as follows:
“1. In a system for interaction between a plurality of users in a three-dimensional, computer-generated graphical space where the system includes at least one server coupling a plurality of clients where each client addresses a client display, a method of representing interactions among the plurality of clients on a display of a target client comprising the steps of:
identifying a position of a local avatar of a user of the target client, the position being a position relative to the graphical space;
determining a maximum displayable avatar count for the target client;
determining a total avatar count for the server, wherein the total avatar count indicates the number of clients connected to the server;
when the total avatar count is greater than the maximum displayable avatar count for the target client, limiting the number of avatars processed by the target client to the maximum displayable avatar count, wherein the step of limiting is performed at the target client; and
displaying, on the client display, the avatars processed by the target client.”
Simply put, if WoW or any of the others don’t implement all of the steps of this method, then they don’t infringe the claim.
In addition, if there is prior art available before 1996 that describes this method, then this claim may be invalid.
The second case, while filed in 2000, is actually a continuation of the first application, which complicates things a bit as it too can be backdated to 1996. This case also appears to have a broader claim 1:
“1. A method for enabling a first user to interact with other users in a virtual space, wherein the first user and the other users each have an avatar and a client process associated therewith, and wherein each client process is in communication with a server process, wherein the method comprises:
(a) receiving a position of less than all of the other users’ avatars from the server process; and
(b) determining, from the received positions, a set of the other users’ avatars that are to be displayed to the first user,
wherein steps (a) and (b) are performed by the client process associated with the first user.”
Without saying anything about what prior art might be available prior to ‘96, it would appear that the claims of the second patent would be harder to avoid.
Just FYI 3DO released Meridian59 on 10/31/96 the First 3D MMO. It has been a long time since I played Meridian59 but I think it was implemented as described in the two patents.
(Woot! Go server 105!)
@Rei Onryou
UO (Ultima Online) was released September 25, 1997. I should know since it had started the first great MMO game switch.
@Dag
I know, but production plus its unveiling (the public becoming aware of it) was before 96.
Standard patent trolling. If anything tweaking Blizzard’s tail like this is likely to hasten the end of the rubbish broken system they’re using *over there* currently…
“s it’s potentially something that’s very bad news for PC gaming,”
I would strongly dispute the idea that the death of the MMO is “bad news for PC gaming” from an end-user perspective.
The Doom bit was amusing, but I would think an personified version of Doom would talk more like the guy in the legendary Doom comic.