Massively http://massively.joystiq.com Massively http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif Massively http://massively.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[Worlds.com vs. NCSoft moves from Texas to California]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/04/27/worlds-com-vs-ncsoft-moves-from-texas-to-california/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/04/27/worlds-com-vs-ncsoft-moves-from-texas-to-california/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/04/27/worlds-com-vs-ncsoft-moves-from-texas-to-california/#commentsFiled under: , , ,


Intellectual Property lawyer Ross A. Dannenberg has reported on his website, Patent Arcade, that the patent dispute between Worlds.com and NCSoft will be moved from the Eastern Texas district to the Northern California district as of 4th May 2009. Worlds.com is persuing NCSoft over alleged infringements of patents that it owns.

The eastern Texas district has acquired a reputation for being the ideal court for this kind of patent due to favorable attitudes to plaintiffs, resulting in a practice known as forum shopping being used to maximize the chance of a successful outcome. On December 5th 2008 the Texas Supreme Court issued a ruling that severely limits the discretion available to a trial court to determine if a case should be dismissed if an adequate alternate forum exists. This should result in cases that have little or no ties to that particular area of Texas being forced to be heard in a more appropriate court, which is likely to be the case in this instance.

You can catch up with all of our coverage on this action here.

MassivelyWorlds.com vs. NCSoft moves from Texas to California originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>lawlegalNCSoftpatentsuedsuitworlds.comworlds.com-vs-ncsoftMon, 27 Apr 2009 13:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Worlds.com files suit against NCsoft for patent infringement]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/12/29/worlds-com-files-suit-against-ncsoft-for-patent-infringement/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/12/29/worlds-com-files-suit-against-ncsoft-for-patent-infringement/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/12/29/worlds-com-files-suit-against-ncsoft-for-patent-infringement/#commentsFiled under: , , ,


You might remember earlier in the month we reported on Worlds.com placing down patents on two technologies that we commonly use in the MMO industry -- scalable chat and system and method of enabling users of interacting in a virtual space -- and how much havoc this could play with our favorite games. We also made the assumption that lawyers were going to begin marching from Worlds.com with suits in hand, beginning their demands of money.

It turns out our assumption was right. Worlds.com has filed the necessary paper work to bring a suit against one of the big names in our industry: NCsoft. The suit was filed on Christmas Eve, December 24th, and charged NCsoft with infringement of patent 7,181,690, the system and method of enabling users of interacting in a virtual space, which was granted in early 2007. The suit cites all NCsoft titles, from Lineage to Aion, as the grounds for the patent infringement.

As a small side note, patent 7,181,690 was filed in 2000 -- over a year after EverQuest launched and dominated the fledgling industry with somewhere around 300,000 subscribers.

We contacted Worlds.com for comment on the 14th of December in connection with our first story, but they have not returned our requests for comment.

We'll keep our ears to the ground as more developments appear in this story.

Update: We have additional commentary on this patent suit.

MassivelyWorlds.com files suit against NCsoft for patent infringement originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 29 Dec 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>aionaion-tower-of-eternitybreakingchristmas-eveeverquestlineagencsoftpatentsuedsuitworlds.comworlds.com-vs-ncsoftMon, 29 Dec 2008 15:00:00 EST