This should be good.
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/11-03-2005/0004208316&EDATE=
There.com sues Will Harvey for patent infrigment where "3d avatars and virtual worlds" are used in an "instant messaging enviroment".
Grab yer popcorn.
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There.com sues IMVU for patent infrigment |
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CrystalShard Foo
1+1=10
Join date: 6 Feb 2004
Posts: 682
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11-04-2005 16:27
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Psyra Extraordinaire
Corra Nacunda Chieftain
Join date: 24 Jul 2004
Posts: 1,533
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11-04-2005 16:33
Wow....
Legal bullying at its finest. I need to write a song about "The March of 160 Lawyers" Or something. _____________________
E-Mail Psyra at psyralbakor_at_yahoo_dot_com, Visit my Webpage at www.psyra.ca
 Visit me in-world at the Avaria sims, in Grendel's Children! ^^ |
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Eboni Khan
Misanthrope
Join date: 17 Mar 2004
Posts: 2,133
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11-04-2005 17:24
I want to go work at Townsend and Townsend and Crew. The kind of law they are practicing is my dream.
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blaze Spinnaker
1/2 Serious
Join date: 12 Aug 2004
Posts: 5,898
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11-04-2005 17:28
Fuck.
This is just a practice lawsuit. We all know who the real target is. Oh well, chat bubbles are off by default I believe, so this shouldn't be a big deal for SL No one seems to care, either. |
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Chip Midnight
ate my baby!
Join date: 1 May 2003
Posts: 10,231
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11-04-2005 18:07
What a crock. They should never have been awarded a patent for that in the first place. Ain't greed fun?
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Spooky Caligari
Registered User
Join date: 10 May 2005
Posts: 145
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11-04-2005 18:32
This all reminds me of when Pangaea Intellectual Properties patented the concept of "selling stuff on the internet" and put a buncha small businesses out of business. Luckily they were nipped in the bud before they became a severe problem.
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Blueman Steele
Registered User
Join date: 28 Dec 2004
Posts: 1,038
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Hmm no prior art?
11-04-2005 19:05
how can they be awarded that patent when avatars in a chat environment is not new??
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blaze Spinnaker
1/2 Serious
Join date: 12 Aug 2004
Posts: 5,898
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11-04-2005 19:15
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=/netahtml/search-adv.htm&r=1&p=1&f=G&l=50&d=ptxt&S1=there.ASNM.&OS=an/there&RS=AN/there
I believe the patent is for chat bubbles. A chat system, method and computer program product for delivering a message between a sender and a recipient in a three-dimensional (3D) multi-user environment, wherein the 3D multi-user environment maintains respective digital representations of the sender and the recipient, uses a recipient interface to receive a message, map the message to a texture to generate a textured message, and render the textured message in the 3D multi-user environment so as to permit the recipient to visually ascertain the location of the digital representation of the sender in the 3D world. Received messages are mantained as two-dimensional elements on a recipient viewport. |
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Spooky Caligari
Registered User
Join date: 10 May 2005
Posts: 145
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11-04-2005 19:26
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=/netahtml/search-adv.htm&r=1&p=1&f=G&l=50&d=ptxt&S1=there.ASNM.&OS=an/there&RS=AN/there I believe the patent is for chat bubbles. Oh wow... I wonder if this lawsuit can affect Phantasy Star Online. Coz I know that game uses chat bubbles in a similar manner. _____________________
My webcomics:
Perki Goth/Candi Raver http://mutt.purrsia.com/main.php My Private Little Hell http://mutt.purrsia.com/mplh |
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blaze Spinnaker
1/2 Serious
Join date: 12 Aug 2004
Posts: 5,898
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11-04-2005 19:53
Most likely.
This is how you proceed with patent lawsuits, get the easy targets first and slowly work your way up. How long has Phantasy been around for? File date on the patent was August 31, 2000 |
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Psyra Extraordinaire
Corra Nacunda Chieftain
Join date: 24 Jul 2004
Posts: 1,533
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11-04-2005 20:09
Methinks they're not even close to being the first ones on the block..
 Does it count? It does have private messaging. It does have avatars. Gosh, they better start suing Microsoft! _____________________
E-Mail Psyra at psyralbakor_at_yahoo_dot_com, Visit my Webpage at www.psyra.ca
Visit me in-world at the Avaria sims, in Grendel's Children! ^^ |
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Kathmandu Gilman
Fearful Symmetry Baby!
Join date: 21 May 2004
Posts: 1,418
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11-04-2005 20:10
Oh geeze, this guy is effectivly suing himself. He created the chat system while working for There, filed a patent and is now suing the company he used to work for because they are using the system he developed which really shouldn't be patentable in the first place.
Y'know, King George was right we are a country overrun with lawyers... _____________________
It may be true that the squeaky wheel gets the grease but it is also true that the squeaky wheel gets replaced at the first critical maintenance opportunity.
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Kathmandu Gilman
Fearful Symmetry Baby!
Join date: 21 May 2004
Posts: 1,418
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11-04-2005 20:18
Methinks they're not even close to being the first ones on the block.. Does it count? It does have private messaging. It does have avatars. Gosh, they better start suing Microsoft! Its not 3d and its not presented on a texture that hovers around the speaker. The patent is very specific on how the chat is presented and SL doesn't use that system. The chat is handled by the client and is generated on the screen. _____________________
It may be true that the squeaky wheel gets the grease but it is also true that the squeaky wheel gets replaced at the first critical maintenance opportunity.
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Dnate Mars
Lost
Join date: 27 Jan 2004
Posts: 1,309
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11-04-2005 20:18
Oh geeze, this guy is effectivly suing himself. He created the chat system while working for There, filed a patent and is now suing the company he used to work for because they are using the system he developed which really shouldn't be patentable in the first place. Y'know, King George was right we are a country overrun with lawyers... You have it backwards. The company he used to work for is suing him because he used the same idea, that he had a patent on, at his new place of employment. It is confusing.... but not surprising. _____________________
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Hiro Pendragon
bye bye f0rums!
Join date: 22 Jan 2004
Posts: 5,905
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11-04-2005 20:38
I don't think this is so ridiculous; Phantasy Star Online and Second Life are based around things other than chatting - building, gaming, etc. Chatting thus becomes a feature, and bubbles a feature of a feature.
IMVU is ... well ... a chat environment. The guy clearly took his contribution from There, recoded it, and repackaged it as a new product. If he's a former employee, there's likely some bad blood, too. _____________________
Hiro Pendragon
------------------ http://www.involve3d.com - Involve - Metaverse / Emerging Media Studio Visit my SL blog: http://secondtense.blogspot.com |
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CrystalShard Foo
1+1=10
Join date: 6 Feb 2004
Posts: 682
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11-04-2005 22:04
Correction Hiro - former Founder.
Will Harvey founded There. And yes, there is some bad blood involved. I wouldnt be too surprised to learn that this is the real motive behind the lawsuit. And re: chat bubbles's on online chat enviroments before There.com came around... LucasArt Habitat - 1986 (Commodore 64): http://mixnmojo.com/galleries/gallery.php?gallery=237&image=2468&goback= Active Worlds - 1995 http://www.activeworlds.com/ (Used to display text above avatar's heads up to 99/2000 - made it look more like bubbles past that year.) Microsoft Comic Chat - 1996: http://research.microsoft.com/vwg/projectsheets/comicchat.htm Good thing we got a patent office, eh? -- EDIT -- Ok, I looked closer into the patent - looks like it only covers 3D enviroments, which potentaily nullify Habitat (Which was using 2D art to display a psuedo-3D enviroment with depth), and completly nullify Comic Chat. However... Active Worlds was still around first. Can anyone think of other pre-2001 3D enviroments with chat bubbles? |
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Osprey Therian
I want capslocklock
Join date: 6 Jul 2004
Posts: 5,049
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11-04-2005 22:51
Although Forterra owns the patent they don't own There anymore, right? There was sold a while ago - I believe that's right. What a stupid and strange development.
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Cocoanut Koala
Coco's Cottages
Join date: 7 Feb 2005
Posts: 7,903
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11-04-2005 23:01
TSO has chat bubbles.
coco _____________________
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MadamG Zagato
means business
Join date: 17 Sep 2005
Posts: 1,402
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11-04-2005 23:02
Hmmm... so does Toon Town!
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Torley Linden
Enlightenment!
Join date: 15 Sep 2004
Posts: 16,530
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11-04-2005 23:07
Brief preamble: my fave Will Harvey game is Zany Golf. (It was infact known as Will Harvey's Zany Golf.) Anyone who's played it might know why. I often had a challenge making it as far as the third level, altho I once had a magical run where I made it all the way to the last level ("Energy", not the 10th) with the blue and purple tones and lasers and all manner of bizarre scientific equipment. I never replicated that feat again.
I knew something was scrooed with There upon reading about Jeffrey Ventrella's leavage. He is perhaps better known as Ventrella Linden to some today. Moral of the story: it's better to get your vision across in something you really believe in than rot and burn in COMPU-HELL! MU HA HA HA.  _____________________
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Hiro Pendragon
bye bye f0rums!
Join date: 22 Jan 2004
Posts: 5,905
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11-04-2005 23:19
Correction Hiro - former Founder. Will Harvey founded There. And yes, there is some bad blood involved. I wouldnt be too surprised to learn that this is the real motive behind the lawsuit. And re: chat bubbles's on online chat enviroments before There.com came around... You're correct, and yes ... this is definitely a case of prior art - in concept. The question is how specific is the patent, really? Most computer software patents are pretty specific - including a variety of aspects of implementation. This patent may include the animations, true 3-D environment, etc etc ... But it'll be interesting to see if this turns into an intellectual property theft case. In any event, I suppose it'll either go into settlement, or we will all get to see just how messed up things are/were between There and Harvey. _____________________
Hiro Pendragon
------------------ http://www.involve3d.com - Involve - Metaverse / Emerging Media Studio Visit my SL blog: http://secondtense.blogspot.com |
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Spooky Caligari
Registered User
Join date: 10 May 2005
Posts: 145
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11-04-2005 23:38
Hmmm... so does Toon Town! I doubt There has the cash to take on The Mouse. _____________________
My webcomics:
Perki Goth/Candi Raver http://mutt.purrsia.com/main.php My Private Little Hell http://mutt.purrsia.com/mplh |
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blaze Spinnaker
1/2 Serious
Join date: 12 Aug 2004
Posts: 5,898
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11-05-2005 00:10
Yeah, I'd be a bit nervous about suing a patent's inventor.
Odds are he's probably fully aware of all the prior art. What does einstein say? Creative people just hide their sources well? |
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Hiro Pendragon
bye bye f0rums!
Join date: 22 Jan 2004
Posts: 5,905
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11-05-2005 00:35
Yeah, I'd be a bit nervous about suing a patent's inventor. Odds are he's probably fully aware of all the prior art. What does einstein say? Creative people just hide their sources well? "Immature poets borrow, mature poets steal." ~ TS Eliot _____________________
Hiro Pendragon
------------------ http://www.involve3d.com - Involve - Metaverse / Emerging Media Studio Visit my SL blog: http://secondtense.blogspot.com |
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Torley Linden
Enlightenment!
Join date: 15 Sep 2004
Posts: 16,530
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11-05-2005 00:40
GMTA or irony?
"A good composer does not imitate; he steals." -commonnly attributed to Igor Stravinsky "Good artists copy, great artists steal." -commonly attributed to Pablo Piccaso _____________________
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