Patent troll Worlds.com threatens to sue Second Life
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RobbyRacoon Olmstead
Red warrior is hungry!
Join date: 20 Sep 2006
Posts: 1,821
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03-11-2009 20:12
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/worldscom-ceo-were-absolutely-going-to-sue-second-life-and-world-of-warcraft-2009-3 Excerpt: From: someone 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). Sounds like this could get interesting. What do you think? Seems to me that they couldn't possibly succeed in the long run, but that doesn't mean the attempt won't have an impact. |
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Keira Wells
Blender Sculptor
Join date: 16 Mar 2008
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03-11-2009 20:31
I'm not entirely sure how patents work, but it's true that SL does fall under that category, as well as WoW and many others.
However, because it's a relatively vaguely specific patent, I believe that any lawsuits would fail against most worlds that offered anything beyond chat and a visual representation of the user's avatars. Second Life integrates content creation and far more, while WoW and EQ2 and such offer a full-blown game. To call either genre a 'Scalable virtual world chat client-server system ' would be a loose-fitting title, that doesn't come anywhere near what they do, or are capable of.
It's more likely that such a suit would be successful with something like Second Life than Wow and EQ2, though, as the latter provide games with objectives, and so on, while Second Life really could be boiled down to just a chat client if you wanted to be really vague.
Also, it seems that the patent may refer only to a specific architecture, and I don't know the architecture behind any applications such as SL and WoW, or if the patent would apply to them.
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Argent Stonecutter
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03-11-2009 20:36
He needs to have a giant Bilski drop on top of him.
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Sindy Tsure
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Join date: 18 Sep 2006
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03-11-2009 20:49
From: RobbyRacoon Olmstead Sounds like this could get interesting. What do you think? Sounds like they're low on cash and looking for some 'shut up and go away' money.. Excerpts from the patents are shown at http://tech.gameshogun.ws/technews/worlds-com-vs-virtual-worlds and actually don't sound like how SL works. In particular, what they're talking about sounds like client-side physics processing. The rest of the excerpts sounds like really generic stuff that, if I was a patent clerk, I would have laughed at. From: RobbyRacoon Olmstead Seems to me that they couldn't possibly succeed in the long run, but that doesn't mean the attempt won't have an impact. Ginsu will go to town on these guys and nothing but tiny little strips of worlds.com VPs will be left over. Possibly over a blob of rice with a little wasabi in between. |
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Isablan Neva
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03-11-2009 20:59
/quickly patents all smartassed forum comments.
Step 3: Profit!
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Scott Savira
Not Scott Saliva
Join date: 10 Aug 2008
Posts: 357
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03-11-2009 21:04
Wasn't this in the news a couple months ago, and there was a big thread about it on the forums?
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RobbyRacoon Olmstead
Red warrior is hungry!
Join date: 20 Sep 2006
Posts: 1,821
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03-11-2009 21:07
From: Scott Savira Wasn't this in the news a couple months ago, and there was a big thread about it on the forums? I may have missed the forum thread here, I spend much less time here since LL broke the forums, but yeah it's been a building story for a while. I guess the thing that got my interest this time is the very specific comment that they do in fact intend to sue LL specifically. . |
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Bree Giffen
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03-11-2009 22:05
This is one of those things where you basically read the headline, 'We're absolutely going to sue WoW and SL". Forget about the whole thing. Eight months later you read another headline, "Company loses suit against WoW and SL." And then you promptly forget about that too.
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Ghosty Kips
Elora's Llama
Join date: 2 May 2008
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03-11-2009 23:01
http://worlds.com/patents.htmlFrom: someone Patent
Worlds has been granted U.S patent 6,219,045 for multi-server technology for 3D applications, which is Worlds’ core technology. The description of the patent is as follows:
“The present invention provides a highly scalable architecture for a three dimensional, multi-user, interactive virtual world system. In a preferred embodiment a plurality of users interact in the three-dimensional, computer-generated graphical space where each user executes a client process to view a virtual world from the perspective of that user. The virtual world shows Avatars representing the other users who are neighbors of the user viewing the virtual world. In order that the view can be updated to reflect the motion of the remote user's Avatar, motion information is transmitted to a central server process that provides position updates to client processes for neighbors of the user at that client process. The client process also users an environment database to determine which background objects to render as well as to limit the number of displayable Avatars to a maximum number of Avatars displayable by that client.” One to watch, methinks. How closely does this architecture follow the specs for SL?
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Viktoria Dovgal
…
Join date: 29 Jul 2007
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03-11-2009 23:21
From: Ghosty Kips One to watch, methinks. How closely does this architecture follow the specs for SL? That is the fun thing with patents, the description hardly ever really tells you what they are trying to claim. Underneath that you'll find claim after claim, each more specific than the last. Then they go hunting and hope that at least some of the claims are specific enough to stick. It's madness. |
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Amity Slade
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Join date: 14 Feb 2007
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03-11-2009 23:31
I won't pretend to know anything about the technical aspects of the patent.
I do know when I first started with Second Life, my immediate reaction was, "This is just like Worlds.com Ultimate 3D Chat that I used back in 1999." They look and play very, very similar.
I kinda liked World.com Ultimate 3D Chat. Until one month they made the mistake of putting the CD for it in some teen magazine, and the place was overrun by 12-year-old girls who named themselves endless variations of "ILoveHanson."
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SuezanneC Baskerville
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03-11-2009 23:39
 Ah, I recall finding the Hanson display. Worlds.com is supposedly finally going to release their long long long promised new version with a world set up for DMC of runDMC. http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2009/03/rundmcs-darryl-dmc-mcdaniels-to-make-appearance-at-engage-expo-to-preview-his-virtual-world.htmlWorlds.com was still in operation within the last year or two when I took that pic, in the event anyone wants to see a bit of the history of virtual worlds. It's pretty clunky looking compared to Second Life. I have a feeling their new version, if it exists, will be lacking some important feature needed to make it worth my having waited for it for years now.
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Ghosty Kips
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Join date: 2 May 2008
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03-11-2009 23:39
I just downloaded the client and walked around. Avatar customization is a joke. The graphics are far primitive of what's in SL, as is animation. No camera controls. And the worlds they offer don't have content - I went to "movies" and got met with rooms for each genre ... all empty.
The only similarity I saw to SL was that avatars duckwalk - and if you have a fast computer, they duckwalk so fast it's almost easy to let them go out of control.
No wonder they're dropping lawsuits. They suck. Who would pay for this?
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Ceka Cianci
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03-12-2009 00:14
The hanson's were hot!!!!  Oh, Oh, oh. Oh, oh. Oh, yeah. You have so many relationships in this life, Only one or two will last. You go through all the pain and strife, Then you're turnin' your back and they're gone so fast. Oh yeah. And they're gone so fast, yeah. Oh, so hold on to the ones that really care, In the end they'll be the only ones there. When you get old and start losing your hair, Can you tell me who will still care? Can you tell me who will still care? Oh care. Chorus: MMMBop...bidi dapa doo wop Doo bi dapa doo bop Bidi dapa doo, yeah, yeah MMMBop...bidi dapa doo wop Doo bi dapa doo bop Bidi dapa doo, yeah, yeah Said oh yeah, in an MMMBop they're gone. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Plant a seed, plant a flower,plant a rose You can plant any one of those Keep planting to find out which one grows. It's a secret no one knows. It's a secret no one knows. Oh, knows, no one knows. (Chorus...) In an MMMBop they're gone In an MMMBop they're not there In an MMMBop they're gone In an MMMBop they're not there Until you lose your hair ohh, but you don't care, oh yeah. (Chorus...) Can you tell me? Ohh, no you can't 'cause you don't know. Can you tell me? Oh yeah, you say you can but you don't know. Can you tell me? (Which flower's gonna grow) Ohh, no you can't 'cause you don't know. Can you tell me? (Is it gonna be a daisy or a rose?) You say you can but you don't know. Can you tell me? (Which flower's gonna grow) Ohh, no you can't 'cause you don't know. Can you tell me? You say you can but you don't know. Say you can but you know. You don't know ohh. Don't know ohhh. MMMBop.......Doo wop........Doo bop.......Doo.......yeah, yeah MMMBop..woah, yeah, yeah...Doo wop......Doo bop........Doo........woah, yeah (Chorus...)(2x) Can you tell me? Ohh, no you can't 'cause you don't know. Can you tell me? Oh yeah, you say you can but you don't know. Say you can but you don't know..........No. RAWR!! |
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Sling Trebuchet
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03-12-2009 01:40
Those who can .... do.
Those who can't ... patent it.
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Kasuga Hax
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Join date: 6 Aug 2007
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03-12-2009 01:57
So these idiots think they can put a patent on virtual community as a product, and suck money out of anything who dares to connect people together?
Only in America...
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Conifer Dada
Hiya m'dooks!
Join date: 6 Oct 2006
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03-12-2009 02:28
Wouldn't it be fairly easy to find people who'd experimented with the idea of virtual worlds before Worlds.com? In fact, didn't Philip Rosedale start work on a virtual world many years before Linden World / Second Life but stopped because he realised that hardly anyone had good enough computers or internet connection to use it at the time?
I read somewhere that in the early 1900s someone tried to patent the automobile, despite the fact that it had been around for a decade or more at the time.
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Ee Maculate
Owner of Fourmile Castle
Join date: 11 Jan 2007
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03-12-2009 03:25
From: Ghosty Kips I just downloaded the client and walked around. Avatar customization is a joke. The graphics are far primitive of what's in SL, as is animation. No camera controls. And the worlds they offer don't have content - I went to "movies" and got met with rooms for each genre ... all empty.
The only similarity I saw to SL was that avatars duckwalk - and if you have a fast computer, they duckwalk so fast it's almost easy to let them go out of control.
No wonder they're dropping lawsuits. They suck. Who would pay for this? I just had a go too... it's AWFUL! And if you want to teleport anywhere you have to "download" the location? In fact if you want to do anything you have to "download this" or "download that". I saw better on my Spectrum 48K back in the 80s! |
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Harmony Levee
Registered User
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03-12-2009 03:29
I'd tend to think being not very detail specific theres a way around this. |
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Chris Norse
Loud Arrogant Redneck
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03-12-2009 03:58
Reason #2495 to scrap all these patent and IP laws.
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Ee Maculate
Owner of Fourmile Castle
Join date: 11 Jan 2007
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03-12-2009 04:22
From: Chris Norse Reason #2495 to scrap all these patent and IP laws. Oooh... I'm going to patent that reason.... |
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DancesWithRobots Soyer
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Join date: 7 Apr 2006
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03-12-2009 05:08
Hmm. . .what do I remember about AlphaWorld all those years ago?
I swear I remember running it on a computer that ran Windows 95. The interface was clunkier, with this huge control panel surrounding a smallish window. Not many avatars available. You could build pretty much anywhere you pleased, and that included over and through other peoples builds. In fact, a friend of mine upset a few people by performing a tight fast set of keystrokes that created a huge road that just went on and on and on.
There WERE avatars. And there WAS building. Things didn't "rezz" as such, tho. I remember a list of pre textured or maybe precolored panels, or somesuch. You had to copy one from another build, and then you could change it into whatever else there was in the list. I also remember you could sort of load a url into one of the panels and run short video on it. That's how my road builder friend built his pornography theater.
To move around quickly, there was this coordinate system with godawful huge numbers. Never did manage to get to the same place twice.
Compared to SL, it WAS clunky. but it does remind me of a primitive SL, and there were people from all over the world using it. Phil and company may have their hands full with this one.
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Phil Deakins
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Join date: 17 Jan 2007
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03-12-2009 05:42
From: Kasuga Hax So these idiots think they can put a patent on virtual community as a product, and suck money out of anything who dares to connect people together?
Only in America... Don't forget that it was in America where a patent was granted for DNA. I'm waiting for the time when we all have to pay royalties in order to use our DNA  |
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Cortex Draper
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03-12-2009 05:58
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Alisha Matova
Too Old; Do Not Want!
Join date: 8 Mar 2007
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03-12-2009 06:06
Scalable......hah! That's funny and the end of this lawsuit. This time LL's scaling fail is a win.
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