Posts
New Case: Guitar Apprentice v. Ubisoft
Case Update: July 2012: On July 5, Guitar Apprentice filed a notice of voluntary dismissal without prejudice that has ended litigation started earlier in April. An order of dismissal was signed by…
New Case: TQP v. Big Fish Games (E.D.Tex.)
This one has me a little perplexed. TQP Development sued Big Fish Games for patent infringement of USP 5,412,730. The ‘730 patent appears to cover a technique for sending encrypted data across…
New Case: Worlds, Inc. v. Activision Blizzard
Well it looks like Worlds, Inc. is at it again, and today filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard for patent infringement. Very few details right now, except that case was filed in…
New Case: Spry Fox v. LolApps et al. (Copyright) – W.D.Wash.
In a case reminiscent of Incredible Technologies v. Virtual Technologies, and one that is sure to provide some much needed guidance (if it goes the distance) regarding when copying someone else’s game…
Who’s going to GDC 2012?
I will be in San Francisco from March 6-11 for GDC 2012. Drop me an email if you will be in town and want to meet for coffee, lunch, drinks, etc. -Ross
Jagex Wins Court Case Against Bot Developers
Jagex Games Studio WINS COURT CASE AGAINST RUNESCAPE BOT DEVELOPERS GAINING SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGES Cambridge, UK –1st February, 2012 – Jagex Games Studio, a leading independent developer and publisher of online games, finalized…
The gamification of code development itself
WIRED has an interesting article regarding Microsoft’s inclusion of badges as rewards for developers in Visual Studio. As developers write code, an Achievements extension grants badges in much the same way a…
Video Game Injury… it could happen to you
Sorry we’ve been silent for a while. Our “real jobs” has been keeping us away. In any event, an occurrence on Christmas Day reminded me of the progress that video games have…
Microsoft acquires another game studio
Microsoft has acquired Twisted Pixel Studios, according to a recent Microsoft press release: As a step in continuing to deliver Microsoft Studios’ innovative game and entertainment offerings, Microsoft has announced the acquisition…
Vote for the Patent Arcade Blog!
VOTE FOR PATENTARCADE.COM AS ONE OF THE BEST BLOGS Attention Patent Arcadians!!! (I just made that up) I am writing to request your vote for PatentArcade.com as one of the blogs to…
Physical Game Patent Dispute
Hidden Image Technology Solutions v. Thomas L. Barnhart U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia Case No. 11-cv-02415, Filed July 22, 2011 Hidden Image Technology Solutions, a Georgia company, has sued Thomas…
New Book: The ABA Legal Guide to Video Game Development
Ross A. Dannenberg publishes new book: “The American Bar Association’s Legal Guide to Video Game Production” The American Bar Association’s Legal Guide to Video Game Development is published by the American Bar…
Case: CyberSource v. Retail Decisions
While not a video game case per se, this will likely affect patents claiming video games because the Federal Circuit (a US appeals court for patent matters, among other things) strikes down…
Facebook Patent Fights Continue
In a previous post we reported on the internet buzz surrounding the issuance to Facebook of U.S. Patent No. 7,669,123, entitled “Dynamically Providing a News Feed About a User of a Social…
Case Update: Lodsys Amends Suit to Include “Angry Birds”
Lodsys LLC. V. Combay Inc. et al. United States District Court, Eastern District of Texas Case No. 11-cv-00272, Filed May 31, 2011 Previously, we reported on the ongoing battle between…
Walker Digital Sues 2K Games (Again)
Walker Digital LLC. v. 2K Games Inc. et al U.S. District Court, District of Delaware Case No. 11-cv-00649, Filed July 22, 2011 Earlier this year we reported on Walker Digital’s…
Thanks to our Summer Research Intern
A big thank you from the Patent Arcade blog to Maryam Henson, who has been our research intern this summer. Maryam is an evening law student at Georgetown and works full-time training…
Case Analysis: Pyramid Holdings v. Giant Interactive
Pyramid Holdings, Inc. v. Giant Interactive Group, Inc. S.D.N.Y., filed Nov. 26, 2007 Case No. 07-CV-10588 I. Nature of the Case This case is a federal securities class action on behalf of…
Patents section revised and updated
We’ve been working on a renovation of our PATENTS link, as well as additional content, which is now live. It’s a bit cumbersome, but there is a lot more information there now.…
Case Analysis: Sega v. MAPHIA
Sega Enterprises Ltd. v. MAPHIA et al. 857 F. Supp. 679 (N.D. Cal. 1994) The defendants in this copyright and trademark infringement case operated an electronic bulletin board service called “MAPHIA”…