"The Boston Globe reports that major MMO publishers (Blizzard, Turbine, SOE, NCSoft, and Jagex) are being sued by Paltalk, which holds a patent on 'sharing data among many connected computers so that all users see the same digital environment' — a patent that would seem to apply to any multiplayer game played between multiple systems, at the very least. Paltalk has already received an out-of-court settlement from Microsoft earlier this year in relation to a lawsuit over the Halo games. If Microsoft can't fend off Paltalk's legal attacks, the odds don't look good for their latest group of targets."
This really is concerning in the world of gaming, it would mean that any programmers that attempt to make a game with a digital online sync'd environment will have to pay a hefty sum to use or even create their own. It really is all about the money to these people...."we already forced Microsoft to pay, so let's try everyone else." Not saying that getting money is a bad thing, but it's like declaring war on the entire online gaming industry.
(Clicks Me!) (Clix Meh!)
It's a bit sad that Microsoft folded and decided to settle without fighting it, because now these other companies will have to put up with this idiocy! I am sure they just settled just to keep the court costs down.
In my opinion the only way their case holds any merit is if the game companies in question actually used the code in question. If they wrote their own, then the case and any like it should be thrown out!
For Paltalk to think they own the the entire concept of online gaming is ridiculous. I am sure that there were others doing it before them. They bought the patents off of another company for $200K. That the Patent office even allowed this type of code to be patented is ridiculous!
This really Grinds my Gears!
Remember... Where ever you go, there you are...
Yar -.- patents like these should be scrapped immediately cause the entire coding community would be so limited cause of crap like this.
Programming today is all about improving and creating new methods on old, new, or recent coding concepts. Hopefully, Paltalk will have their asses handed to them by the joint MMORPG forces.
I for one certainly hope so.
I wonder who holds the patent for the Internet?
This is just absurd. They even sued the creator of Runescape.
"sharing data among many connected computers so that all users see the same digital environment"
Wait, isn't that, like, the internet? Not quite I guess, but it is a really broad description. They might as well sue Adobe (Adobe Connect) and a bunch of other non-gaming related companies too.
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