Talking about patents....

[BazzaAlpine]

what ever happened about that case with Paltalk? Seems to have gone very quiet :S Only things I can dig up is Microsoft have gotten involved (no idea why) and Turbine got dismissed from the case? WooHoo go Turbine if that's true (unless it's because you just paid off the accident chasing lawer scum in which case BOOO!).

[BazzaAlpine]

Update: Jagex wins patent case (not sure if I'm aloud to post the link to the press release). Still not heard about the other companies involved though

[KingOfCheese]

Fairly hot off the presses. As the DDO forum's resident intellectual property attorney (i.e., scum lawyer ), I'll note that an initial victory does not necessarily end the day. Unless the parties settle the case, there can be appeals, which can take up to another year or so to resolve.


CAMBRIDGE, UK, Nov 17, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Jagex Games Studio, the UK's largest independent games developer and publisher, today announced that it has been successful in securing a non-infringement judgement in its case against PalTalk Holdings Inc for patent infringement.

The dispute came to light in September 2009 when PalTalk began patent infringement proceedings against Jagex, Activision Blizzard, Sony, Turbine and NCSoft, following achieving a favourable settlement with Microsoft for an undisclosed sum earlier in 2009. In its complaint, PalTalk accused Jagex's game RuneScape.com, the world's most popular free-to-play MMO, of infringing U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,822,523 and 6,226,686 titled "Server-Group Messaging System for Interactive Applications." PalTalk further alleged that it had "suffered damages in excess of tens of millions of dollars" as a result of Jagex's infringement of their patents.

Jagex has always regarded this lawsuit as frivolous and vexatious, simply a fishing exercise given RuneScape.com's worldwide success. From the outset, Jagex has robustly defended its position, as it does against all claims it considers baseless. This view has been fully vindicated by the judgment of non-infringement by the US courts.

"It is exceedingly unfortunate that the US legal system can force a company with a sole presence in Cambridge, UK to incur a seven digit expense and waste over a year of management time on a case with absolutely no merit," said Mark Gerhard, Jagex CEO. "This anomaly, which could easily break smaller studios, doesn't happen in the UK since you can pursue frivolous litigants for the costs of such claims. We are particularly disappointed that PalTalk did not, at any stage prior to filing the lawsuit, seek to contact us to clarify that Jagex's game platform did not infringe PalTalk's patents."

It is Jagex's corporate policy to engage in good intellectual property practices. Jagex endeavours not to infringe any third party intellectual property rights, and the judgment confirms that Jagex did not infringe PalTalk's patent rights in this case.

Mark Gerhard said, "Thankfully the team can continue to focus all our attention on our passion for game development, however, we will not hesitate to vigorously defend our position against any patent trolls who bring lawsuits against us in the future."

About Jagex -- Just About the Game Experience: Jagex Games Studio is a world-leading developer of high quality browser-based games and is the largest independent games developer and publisher in the UK -- with 450 staff across two studios in Cambridge, England.

Jagex has a long-standing reputation for creating the world's best online games by developing hugely popular, high quality, accessible, free-to-play games and for providing an unbeatable community experience for millions of players around the world. Jagex has developed and self-published over 40 online titles including the world's most popular free multiplayer online game, RuneScape.com

[KingOfCheese]

I pulled the case history on this one to check the status of Turbine in this dispute.

On September 21, 2010, both sides filed a "Stipulation of Dismissal," to end the case against Turbine. Typically this happens when: a) one side realizes it has no merits to its case; b) one side believes it will lose and doesn't want to spend more money; or c) a settlement is reached (this is the most common reason).

Here is the text from the document:

"Pursuant to [legal blather] PalTalk Holdings, Inc. (PalTalk) agrees to dismiss, and hereby dismisses, with prejudice, its claims against Turbine, Inc. in the above-captioned action. Each party agrees to bear its own fees and costs."

The court approved the stipulation with an Order on September 23.

So, in a nutshell, Turbine is out of the case.

[BazzaAlpine]

Hope Turbine didn't just roll over and settle :-( (unless they found they were breaking it that is) as it just gives these trolls (and their poorly worded patent) more funds to go after other companies. Apparently both sides have agreed not to appeal in the case of Jagex.

[KingOfCheese]

Hope Turbine didn't just roll over and settle :-( (unless they found they were breaking it that is) as it just gives these trolls (and their poorly worded patent) more funds to go after other companies. Apparently both sides have agreed not to appeal in the case of Jagex.

Ah--that's good news for Jagex.

Based on the poor quality of the patent, I suspect that any settlement Turbine made did not involve cash--or if it did, only a small amount.

The cost of patent litigation (often in the 2-10 million range to take a case through trial) often makes it wise (although not just) to pay to make the case go away. As painful and unjust as it is, it is not an unwise business decision to pay several hundred thousand (or more) to make a case go away--if it can be done confidentially so that the world doesn't realize you are a soft target. This happens a lot. Like you, I hope it didn't happen here. But we'll likely never know.