Posts
CASE SETTLED: Square Enix v. various sword retailers
On February 24, 2009, Square Enix settled another lawsuit. According to its press release, the lawsuit named at least four national wholesalers of unlicensed sword replicas and their principals that have infringed…
New Look/Features for the Patent Arcade
Well I finally got around to upgrading the blog to Google’s new beta service, so we’ve updated the look and feel a little bit, while keeping the overall simple header theme. New…
Case: Harmonix v. Konami (Mass.)
Harmonix and Viacom jointly filed suit in the District of Massachusetts against Konami for patent infringement. The lawsuit alleges Konami’s “ROCK REVOLUTION” video game infringes U.S. Pat. No., 7,459,624 entitled “Game controller…
Resource: Free video game course instruction
I don’t normally post non-legal content, but this one is a good resource for budding video game designers: 70+ Open Courseware Links for Game Designers and Developers. Most of the resources appear…
News: Santa Clara Law School Hosts Open House in Second Life
From Leigh Jones, Associate editor at the National Law Journal: –In what is considered the first event of its kind, Santa Clara University School of Law is holding an open house in…
News: Speaking at GDC 2009
I just wanted to take a minute and let everyone know that I will be speaking at GDC 2009 (March 25-27, 2009) this year. I’m not sure which day my presentation will…
News: Guitar Hero/Rock Band for a REAL guitar
You know, I’ve been waiting for over a year since I first heard about Guitar Rising, a Guitar Hero style video game that you can play with a REAL guitar. It seems…
New Case: Worlds.com v. NCSoft (E.D.Tex., filed Dec. 24, 2008)
Merry Christmas, you’ve been sued. It’s not uncommon for plaintiffs to file lawsuits around the holidays in order to “turn the screws” on defendants, and that appears to be the case here.…
Case Update: Nintendo v. Nyko SETTLED
As previously reported, Nintendo sued Nyko for design patent infringement and trademark infringement over the Wii’s nunchuk controller. On Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008, the parties filed a STIPULATION for Dismissal of Action…
In memoriam: A loss to the Virtual World community…
The Patent Arcade is sad to report that we have lost one of our own. Steve Davidson, a friend, colleague, and groundbreaking attorney in the video game and virtual world fields, passed…
Case: Capcom v. MKR (ND Cal. 2008)
Capcom Co., Ltd. et. al. v. The MKR Group N.D. Cal. 2008 (by Shawn Gorman) While relatively short lived, this legal battle provides several insights for both video game producers and their…
Articles about IP in Virtual Worlds
I recently wrote a series of short articles for LinuxInsider regarding IP issues as they arise in virtual worlds and video games. Each article was necessarily short, so there wasn’t room to…
Case: THQ v. Activision – SETTLED
Well, as is often the case, the cost to settle far outweighs the cost to litigate to prove a point. It appears that is true here. As we previously reported, THQ sued…
News: Trademark Registration for Second Life Avatar
Its not every day that we get to report TRADEMARK news, so this is a refreshing change from the norm. On Nov. 11, 2008, the United States Patent & Trademark Office granted…
New Case: Motiva v. Nintendo (patent infringement)
Well, it looks like Nintendo has been sued for patent infringement again. This time by Motiva LLC, for infringement of U.S. Pat. No. 7,292,151, which is directed to a “Human Movement Measurement…
Case: ESS v. Rock Star (9th Cir. 2008) [T]
E.S.S. Entertainment 2000 v. Rock Star Video __ F.3d __ (9th Cir. 2008) (by Shawn Gorman) The (in)famous Grand Theft Auto series, produced by Rock Star Games, has become synonymous with legal…
IP Alert: In re Bilski
Further to the previous post, here is a more comprehensive write-up prepared by Brad Wright, a partner of mine at Banner & Witcoff, Ltd.: Intellectual Property Advisory: Court Limits Patents on Business…
Case: In re Bilski limits patentable subject matter
While not strictly a video game case, the Federal Circuit today (October 30, 2008) released its decision in In re Bilski regarding the limits on patentable subject matter, which could certainly affect…
New Case: THQ v. Activision Blizzard
On October 23, 2008, THQ filed a new lawsuit against Activision Blizzard for trade dress and copyright infringement regarding Activision’s planned release of “SCORE International Baja 1000 The Official Game” in late…
News: Japanese avatar kills virtual husband after “divorce”
The stories just keep on flowing. Who knew that divorce could lead to a virtual killing, and subsequent arrest for hacking? Read the story here. In short, a 43-year-old Japanese woman killed…