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One more reason why software patents are EVIL!

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  • One more reason why software patents are EVIL!



    Snippet:
    GameDAILY BIZ received word recently that Texas-based law firm McKool Smith has sued 12 major game publishers and is threatening legal action against several smaller companies as well. Electronic Arts, Take-Two Interactive, Ubisoft, Activision, Atari, THQ, Vivendi Universal Games, Sega, Square Enix, Tecmo, LucasArts, and Namco Hometek are all named as defendants in the case.

    McKool Smith contends that these 12 companies infringed on their patent, "Method and Apparatus for Spherical Planning," or patent 4,734,690. The patent was originally filed in March 1988 for a specific method of displaying 3-D images on a monitor.

    ...

    "It's a very old and very general patent showing a method that uses a moving plane to show 3-D images. The patent is ridiculously broad. It's purely McKool Smith trying to make money. It's an abuse of the legal system," an employee of a major publisher speaking on a condition of anonymity told GameDAILY BIZ.

    ...

    "Publishers should be very worried. They might have a leg to stand on from a legal standpoint. It's not impossible that McKool Smith will win. A lot of very smart people are taking this very seriously. Common sense says it's ridiculous, and from a moral standpoint it's outrageous," the employee said.
    I'm surprised we haven't seen patent infringement suits for someone claiming to have invented how to put paper to pen. $#!* this is getting annoying. People with 10+ year old patents that wait until the world is grid-locked into an idea and then submarines the entire industry with some lame, general, broad patent that could mean anything.

    I mean, how do you patent "Method and Apparatus for Spherical Planning?" Artists and animators were doing this YEARS before the patent was filed in 1988. The simple fact that they use this method for video games means nothing. Pixar was using "Method(s) and Apparatus(s) for Spherical Planning" on computers in the mid-1980's, and some universities were doing the like even before that.

    Stuff like this is really pissing me off.

    Jammrock
    “Inside every sane person there’s a madman struggling to get out”
    –The Light Fantastic, Terry Pratchett

  • #2
    Gotta love lawyers like that *roll*

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    • #3
      A small law firm is also suing Dell for having an international internet ordering system where the user can choose their language. Apparently they want a share of the profits.

      AZ
      There's an Opera in my macbook.

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      • #4
        Yup, the company is DE Technology and thats the patent they have: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-P...S=PN/6,460,020

        Pretty stupid if you ask me
        "Women don't want to hear a man's opinion, they just want to hear their opinion in a deeper voice."

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        • #5
          can anyone say 'prior art' - I knew you could.
          It will be reduced in scope through court.
          Juu nin to iro


          English doesn't borrow from other languages. It follows them down dark alleys, knocks them over, and goes through their pockets for loose grammar.

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          • #6
            Re: One more reason why software licenses are EVIL!

            Originally posted by Jammrock
            I'm surprised we haven't seen patent infringement suits for someone claiming to have invented how to put paper to pen.
            Don't worry give it a few years and we probably will

            Soon people will be too scared to develop anything for fear of breaking someone's patent
            When you own your own business you only have to work half a day. You can do anything you want with the other twelve hours.

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            • #7
              I dearly hope the EU will vote against software patents. ALL four major parties in germany are against them, yet our minister of justice Brigitte Zypries may just ignore that, as she has ignored common sense in the past quite successfully.

              AZ
              There's an Opera in my macbook.

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              • #8
                Money often overrides common sense in politicians.

                Jammrock
                “Inside every sane person there’s a madman struggling to get out”
                –The Light Fantastic, Terry Pratchett

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                • #9
                  No, I think she is just plain stupid and doesn't know what she's doing. I mean it.

                  AZ
                  There's an Opera in my macbook.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Battlezone, Gunship, Flight Simulator, Artic Fox, Starglider, there's plenty of games that were out before '87 that were full-blown 3D and ran on a home computer. If you expand the context out of games and/or home computers then it's even worse...

                    I don't know who's worse, the patent office for being so corrupt and/or total dumb4$$es or the lawyers/companies for being so greedy.

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by az
                      No, I think she is just plain stupid and doesn't know what she's doing.
                      She sounds ideally qualified to be a politician
                      When you own your own business you only have to work half a day. You can do anything you want with the other twelve hours.

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