Comments for Virtual Law

Comment on Does Worlds.com Hold the Patent for the Virtual World? by Coke Supply

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:53:21 +0000

This is ridiculous! If I want to create a business that involves running a virtual world, who the hell are these people to say that I must pay them service to do so?!

Comment on Does Worlds.com Hold the Patent for the Virtual World? by L Carter

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 19:40:15 +0000

I actually used Worlds Chat since September of 1995, and it came online in early 1995. One could make their own avatar (maximum of 8 sides). So, when you moved,. depending on what pictures your avatar was constructed with others saw different representations of your avatar. And of course you could use whatever picture or pictures you wanted. The only other graphical chat at that time and it came around after Worlds Chat was The Palace which was a 2D graphical chat which did not allow movement of the avatar in a way that Worlds Chat did. I am not a lawyer, but when I saw the news on their website the first thing I thought of was lawsuits. The first patent is pretty straight forward. Worlds was and is a Virtual World Chat Client/Server System as is the second patent “System and Method for Enabling Users to Interact in a Virtual Space”.. While in Worlds Chat, the system knows where you are, so you could “whisper” to someone no matter where they were in the virtual worlds. So, it will definitely be interesting to see where this goes.

Comment on Does Worlds.com Hold the Patent for the Virtual World? by Jobe Makar - Electrotank

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 15:02:16 +0000

As a maker of EUP, a virtual worlds platform, this scares me. It is tough to decipher what they are really saying in those patents. But it sounds like they’ve patented the most fundamental common sense parts of a virtual world. I’m surprised they didn’t try to patent chat.

Their 2nd patent was file in 2000. There has got to be prior art for this one. I’ll be digging into this - but I think that we have done these things in 1999 or early 2000.

The 1996 patent is definitely before my time.

Comment on Does Worlds.com Hold the Patent for the Virtual World? by F. Randall Farmer

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 21:58:07 +0000

[[Cross Posted from Terra Nova]]

Heh. Turns out this kind of thing is now going on in Europe and Asia with other attempts to enforce virtual world patents filed since the mid to late 1990s.

For the record and posterity, as a pioneer of many of the technologies in the late 80’s and early 90s and concepts underlying such claims, I am available as a professional expert witness. In the last year, I have worked on several cases surrounding bogus virtual world patent claims. Most you haven’t heard of, because we overwhelm them with prior-art and they die long before trial.

Ask Will Harvey (IMVU) how Forterra tried to shake him down by asserting that they had a patent on the 3D-word balloon in virtual worlds. I had fun providing the prior art for that one! If he’d lost, I’m 100% sure that Blizzard was next in line. [I should really write a blog post up about this one - Will, if you’re reading this, drop me a line with the latest status.] As it is, your word balloons are safe. :-)

I’ve also referred other lame claims off to other pioneers/Terra Nova regulars, such as Brian Green.

Just today I faxed/couriered a witness statement in an international case that’s so dumb it makes my head hurt.

Here’s the deal - much of the stuff people patented starting in the late 1990s was previously created and not patented because we didn’t think you *could* patent software. Lucky thing for virtual worlds this is true.

Patent trolls aren’t going to get away with claiming *my* virtual world prior art! I’m a pack rat. I have stuff you didn’t even know existed, and I know where I put it. :-)

Randy