Posts
News: Banner & Witcoff Secures Virtual World Win
Banner & Witcoff Secures Favorable Settlement for Client Regarding Intellectual Property and Land Dispute in Second Life (Washington, D.C., July 22, 2008) – Banner & Witcoff Ltd., one of the largest law…
News: Konami sues Viacom over Rock Band
Konami Digital Entertainment Co. v. Harmonix Music Systems, Inc. No. 6:08-CV-286, (E.D. Tx, Filed July 9, 2008) Summary by Steve Chang, Esq. If you build it, they will come. The tagline from…
Case: Sega v. Accolade (9th Cir. 1992) – Copyright Fair Use
Sega Enterprises Ltd. v. Accolade Inc. 977 F.2d 1510 (9th Cit. 1992) If you owned a Sega Genesis at any time in your life, chances are you will NEVER forget the singsong…
Case Update: Anascape v. Nintendo
As indicated in a previous post, Anascape Ltd., an invention and license-holding company, sued Microsoft and Nintendo for patent infringement over their controllers for their respective video game console systems. Microsoft settled…
New Case: Nintendo v. Nyko (W.D. Wash.) Filed June 10, 2008
Nintendo of America Inc. v. Nyko Technologies Inc. Case number 08-cv-907 U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington Nintendo of America filed a lawsuit on June 10, 2008, against Nyko…
News: Sandra Day O’Connor, Game Designer
So this blog tracks video game IP law updates, but here is a morsel that I just had to comment on: Sandra Day O’Connor (yes, THE Sandra Day O’Connor, i.e., the first…
Case: Anascape Ltd. v. Microsoft et al. (E.D.Tex. 2008) [P]
Back in July 2006, Anascape Ltd. sued Microsoft and Nintendo over various game controller patents, including United States Patent Numbers 5,999,084; 6,102,802; 6,135,886; 6,208,271; 6,222,525; 6,343,991; 6,344,791; 6,347,997; 6,351,205; 6,400,303; 6,563,415; and…
Case: In re Bilski – Federal Circuit oral argument
The status quo is that video game play methods are patentable subject matter, provided the game play methodology is new, useful, and nonobvious. Never before has there been a case with the…
News: Korean Copyright Suit over Advent Rising
I don’t normally track foreign video game cases, but perhaps I should. However, it does make one more category of work for me in view of all my regular work and blogging…
News: Disney to shutter Virtual Magic Kingdom
Disney has announced that its Virtual Magic Kingdom will close May 21, 2008,… for good. The VMK is no longer accepting new users, either. Disney’s VMK was launched in 2005 as a…
Case: Eros v. Simon (SETTLED 2007) – Second Life
Somehow this well reported case got overlooked here at the Patent Arcade, and that appears to be because I thought I’d already written about it. In any event, it now gets its…
News: IBM to host private Second Life regions
IBM said today that it would become the first company to host private regions of the virtual world Second Life on its own computer servers. if(window.yzq_d==null)window.yzq_d=new Object(); window.yzq_d[‘rMuhOkLEYpU-‘]=’&U=1270rgt1l%2fN%3drMuhOkLEYpU-%2fC%3d-1%2fD%3dRMP%2fB%3d-1’; The project is in…
Case: Tafas v. Dudas (USPTO rules)
Today the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia granted Tafas’ and Smithkline Beecham’s Motions for Summary Judgment, effectively holding that the USPTO’s proposed 5/25 and 2+1 rules regarding claims…
Visit the Patent Arcade in Second Life
I now have a presence in Second Life, on the PG (i.e., ok for all ages) region of Pumori. My XboxLIVE gamertage is Aviator, so naturally keeping with the theme my SL…
LINKS! LINKS! LINKS!
I’ve received a number of requests to link to other web sites. I guess that is a good thing, and means people actually read this blog! I don’t have room for all…
News: Second Life creates Brand Center to protect its trademarks
As Second Life matures, they are taking some fairly customary steps, one of which is to take a more proactive role to protect their own intellectual property. In this vein, Linden Labs…
Case Update: MDY v Blizzard – Summary Judgment Motions
Well it looks like this case has not settled yet, and the parties have filed their summary judgment motions. MDY’s Motion can be viewed here. Blizzard’s filings are here, here, and here.
Case: Eros v. Leatherwood (Settled, March 2008)
Eros, the maker of the Second Life sex bed, sued the avatar Volkov Catteneo for illegally copying and selling unlicensed copies of the sex bed, thereby infringement the intellectual property of Eros.…
U.S. Patent: 6,264,560 – USPTO grants re-exam request
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office agreed to re-examine online-gaming patent 6,264,560 after the Electronic Frontier Foundation challenged it on the grounds that the technology covered by the patent had been used…
Case: Activision v. Gibson (C.D.Cal.) PENDING
After receiving a letter accusing them of patent infringement, Activision filed a declaratory judgment action March 12, 2008, against Gibson Guitars, asking the court for finding of invalidity and noninfringement. Gibson is…