• Mojang, EA, Square Enix and others sued for patent infringements
    34 replies, posted
[quote][B]A small Texas-based company alleges that[I]"Mindcraft"[/I] infringes on one of its many patents.[/B]A company named Uniloc, which describes itself as "in the business of finding big ideas," has filed a suit against [I]Minecraft[/I] developer, Mojang, claiming the Android edition of [I]Mindcraft[/I] [sic] infringes on one of its patents. Similar suits have been leveled against EA, Square Enix and Gameloft.The patent in question was filed in 2005, and is for "a system and method ... for preventing unauthorized access to electronic data stored on an electronic device." The vague patent, along with Uniloc's long history of patent litigation and its base in Texas (where state laws favor patent owners) have led many to label the company a "patent troll."Mojang founder, Markus "Notch" Persson, is certainly unimpressed. He announced the lawsuit via an [URL="https://twitter.com/notch/status/226603785504579584"]irreverent tweet[/URL] and went on to state that Mojang would be facing down Uniloc on principle."Unfortunately for them, they're suing us over a software patent," he [URL="https://twitter.com/notch/status/226604081932812288"]tweeted.[/URL] "If needed, I will throw piles of money at making sure they don't get a cent."Uniloc belongs to one, Ric "The Man in the Van" Richardson, an Australian inventor who, and I quote, [URL="http://www.smh.com.au/technology/biz-tech/one-man-v-microsoft-a-day-in-the-dickmobile-another-day-in-court-for-aussie-inventor-20110106-19h25.html#ixzz21JMvwKq6"]"does much of his thinking in his van, which he dubs the 'DickMobile,' near his leafy property in Byron Bay."[/URL] If his name sounds familiar, it's because Mr. Richardson was involved in a landmark legal battle against Microsoft which eventually lead to a major change in how courts calculate reasonable damages in patent cases.[/quote] [URL=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/118633-Mojang-Square-Enix-EA-and-Others-Sued-For-Patent-Infringement]Source[/url] Again, whoever let this get patented, eat a dick.
Dicks <3
Mindcraft Minecraft What.
Reminds me of that time Garry was sued because a user posted a copyrighted news article here.
What kind of Lawyers pick up these cases.. if I was handed this I'd throw it back in their face and sue them for wasting my time reading such bullshit.
[QUOTE=ThePinkPanzer;36899216]Mindcraft Minecraft What.[/QUOTE] Acceptable typo, as dumb as he is for missing it.
But I love Mindcraft!
I hate the age we live in, where people can sue other people because the cheese they eat uses recipients made by a company that killed the guy who made shoes for their granparents in the 1940's, or in other words, complete utter bullshit.
[QUOTE]"patent troll"[/QUOTE] Ugh.
So... uhh... how did these companies infringe on a patent that grants unauthorized access to data on a device?
Thought this thread was going to be about Apple.
[QUOTE=The golden;36899522]Patents have turned from a way of protecting intellectual property into just a way to make a quick buck. And you know what? I don't put a single blame on the companies. I put 100% of the blame on the countries' respective patent offices. They're the ones that let the most vague and bullshit things become patents.[/QUOTE] [url=http://www.google.com/patents?id=hhYJAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4#v=onepage&q&f=false]Patent on a stick.[/url] Literally.
[QUOTE=Zet;36899497]So... uhh... how did these companies infringe on a patent that grants unauthorized access to data on a device?[/QUOTE] DRM? I'm actually glad they're being sued for DRM.
[QUOTE=Last or First;36899968][url=http://www.google.com/patents?id=hhYJAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4#v=onepage&q&f=false]Patent on a stick.[/url] Literally.[/QUOTE] I was expecting a piece of paper on a stick. Now I want to go register a patent on a stick.
go to fast food operation in winter time find patch of ice not salted. pretend to slip on ice get money [editline]23rd July 2012[/editline] suing is coo
[QUOTE=The golden;36899522]And you know what? I don't put a single blame on the companies. I put 100% of the blame on the countries' respective patent offices. They're the ones that let the most vague and bullshit things become patents.[/QUOTE] Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Exploiting something for personal gain shouldn't automatically put 100% of the blame on the designer. It may be the designer's responsibility to change it, but you can't say that someone using exploits in a system (for example, cheating in a game) should not be punished. Otherwise we'd end up with people breaking into secure government databases and they'd get off scot-free while the person responsible for securing it would be rightfully fired.
This patent war trolling crap is getting out of hand, clearly the system is broken.
surely it'll just be thrown out on technicality because they can't even get the name right? It's like a little kid told them about it and called it "mindcraft", so they took it, did no research and just made a law suit. Technically Mindcraft is not a piece of software created by mojang.
People who abuse patents should get them all taken off them.
[QUOTE=draugur;36900245]DRM? I'm actually glad they're being sued for DRM.[/QUOTE] They should sue Valve for Steam while they're at it.
Patents on software are unacceptable. They halt progress almost as much as religion.
[QUOTE=EA_GAM3R420;36901570]Patents on software are unacceptable. They halt progress almost as much as religion.[/QUOTE] I wouldn't go THAT far... but still, i agree.
Didn't some lawyer say that software patents are bullshit?
[QUOTE=kaukassus;36901662]Didn't some lawyer say that software patents are bullshit?[/QUOTE]I think Notch did like two days ago when the Mindcraft lawsuit was brought up.
[QUOTE=Sexy Gabe;36899405]Ugh.[/QUOTE] It's an established term. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_lb3D7Ay-M[/media]
[quote]"a system and method ... for preventing unauthorized access to electronic data stored on an electronic device." [/quote] You see this is the fucking problem. You shouldn't be able to patent a fucking CONCEPT. According to this patent, every single form of computer security, encryption, etc. violates their patent if it's not going through them. THAT is fucked up. I could understand if they had come up with some form of encryption or some actual means of data protection and then copyrighted that method, but come the the fuck on, you can't patent a fucking concept.
[QUOTE=kaukassus;36901662]Didn't some lawyer say that software patents are bullshit?[/QUOTE] Atleast American software patents are total bullshit. Instead of having some actual program/function you can patent an idea and can enforce it over all programming languages etc. Different in other countries.
[QUOTE=Zet;36899497]So... uhh... how did these companies infringe on a patent that grants unauthorized access to data on a device?[/QUOTE] I think it was over a username/password system.
This company has beat Microsoft in court. Multiple times. Also AFAIK this patent involves remote licence checking or something, so stupid.
Now that they have EA in the mix, Uniloc is fucked themselves.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.