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Thread: Anyone remember Worlds.com, who tried to sue NCSoft over their MMO tech ?

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    Default Anyone remember Worlds.com, who tried to sue NCSoft over their MMO tech ?

    Anyone remember Worlds.com, who tried to sue NCSoft over their MMO tech ?

    They are at it again, now suing Blizzard and many other MMO developers.

    http://www.businessinsider.com/world...arcraft-2009-3

    Worlds.com CEO Thom Kidrin is putting the entire virtual worlds industry on notice: His company claims the idea of a scalable virtual world with thousands of users is its patented intellectual property, and Thom told us he intends to sue anyone who refuses to enter into licensing negotiations -- including giants such as Second Life and World of Warcraft, a property of Activision Blizzard (ATVI).

    Already, Korean gaming firm NCSoft, maker of City of Heroes and Guild Wars, has been sued by Worlds. (In East Texas no less, a jurisdiction infamous in intellectual property circles for plaintiff-friendly rulings in patent cases.)

    Thom told us if he succeeds in his litigation, he "absolutely" intends to pursue follow-up suits against industry leaders Second Life and WoW.

    Last December, when hitherto-unknown Worlds.com claimed to hold a patent for the virtual worlds idea dating from the 1990s, we were highly skeptical. Whatever one thinks of Second Life, there's no doubt that service was the brainchild of Linden Lab founder Philip Rosedale, who pitched the idea around Silicon Valley for years before gaining VC funding to make it happen.

    But Worlds.com's Thom filled us in on his backstory: Back in 1997, a developer created the Steven Spielberg-backed Starbright World, part of the Starlight Starbright Foundation's work with seriously ill children. Even in the fledgling virtual worlds industry, very few people heard of Starbright World because its creators shunned publicity, seeing their product as a private wonderland for sick kids.

    Eventually a collection of Starbright patents, which don't cover virtual worlds per se but an architecture for enabling thousands of simultaneous users in a 3D virtual space, passed from the original creators to the current Worlds.com management. Lawyers from General Patent Corporation encouraged the Worlds.com team to aggressively pursue licensing deals.

    Thom insists he's not out to put anyone out of business, he just wants to be paid licensing fees for what he considers his lawful intellectual property. But we can't imagine the potential targets of any patent infringement action will interpret the demand for licensing fees as anything less than a legal shakedown.

    We consulted legal experts like Virtual Law author Ben Duranske about the case, and Worlds.com may have a tough time in court based on a wealth of "prior art" available to any patent defense.

    But we'll keep a close eye on this one as it progresses through the courts. Whenever issues of who owns a technology and how much it's worth are decided by judges and juries, the results are always unpredictable.

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    Game over for them. Suing one of the richest and greatest game company currently.. Epic fail. I can imagine Blizzard staff laughing their asses off atm.

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    Good to hear that they don't want to shut the games down but it's still suspicious that they do it in the middle of an economic crisis.

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    Worlds is just lame. They are probably going bankrupt and now are trying to earn some cash. But they just epic fail.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Thas View Post
    Game over for them. Suing one of the richest and greatest game company currently.. Epic fail. I can imagine Blizzard staff laughing their asses off atm.
    I thought absolutely the same when reading this. Someone had a really bad idea how to get money. >_> Anyhow they will never get anything as Activison blizzard is now the biggest game company around.

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    I think this is hilarious im surprised the guy is actually dumb enough to try it.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Thas View Post
    Game over for them. Suing one of the richest and greatest game company currently.. Epic fail. I can imagine Blizzard staff laughing their asses off atm.
    if i were Blizzard i wouldnt laugh my *** off atm. Law is well known for allowing all kind of stupid outcomes,and being wrong or right has nothing to do, ever.

    money is a huge advantage,thats for granted. but even the smallest, darkest legal gap can raze any industry.


    thousands of totally innocent people are jailed yearly,and millions lose trials when it was a matter of common sense that they were right.
    I wouldnt be surprised at all if Blizzard just brings out their checkbook to shut some traps in advance, and avoid reaching the randomness of courts at any cost...guess thats what the dude is aiming for
    We must go forward, not backward. Upward, not forward. And always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom!

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    lol... if they do manage to get money out of blizzard...

    the world is doomed as we know it

  9. #9
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    Blizzard could buy there whole company and destroy there "World".

    Or better yet sue THEM and blizzard would probably win,
    There probably in need of money since there game blows so hard.

  10. #10
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    Blizz would give them a big fat sack with a $ on it and worlds.com shuts the f' up.

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    Blizz could pull another gilder and find a way to counter sue/bankrupt worlds if they get agitated enough I have a feeling. No I don't know how, but I have a feeling they could manage it.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Braemm View Post
    Worlds is just lame. They are probably going bankrupt and now are trying to earn some cash. But they just epic fail.
    This.

    10char

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    Nothing new here. He triee to act like he has this monstrous power over everyone in the MMORPG world and he wants money from everyone.

    I am more than certain MMORPG company "kings" like Blizzard would be willing to just pay him the money just to leave them alone while smaller companies will be willing to fight for their rights. Losing $500,000~$1m is small time to Blizzard, and it would also eliminate competition to people who couldn't to purchase this "license to establish an online world"

    That is only if this were to actually happen. There is, by no means any way he will be winning this case, and if the hearing is being held in Texas I will be more than happy to go listen.

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    Good God, let's hope a counter-claim doesn't come down the pipes somehow.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by ZormaX View Post
    lawers with lvl 80 accounts! AWWWW YE!
    LOL they're sure to win when they bring there lvl 80's into the matter

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by ZormaX View Post
    lawers with lvl 80 accounts! AWWWW YE!
    i lol'd hard for some reason.

    you and this picture made my day


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    LMAO!

    Blizzard is going to **** the hell out of them. Ahahahaha!

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