Worlds.com Targets World of Warcraft, Second Life For Patent Suit

[Heavens Angel]

Virtual world patent holder Worlds.com filed suit against NCSoft in December, claiming its games, including City of Heroes and Guild Wars, were violating its patent for multiplayer virtual environments. And it won't stop there.

Worlds.com CEO Thom Kidrin says that the company "absolutely" has intentions of going after other big virtual world creators, including Blizzard for World of Warcraft and Linden Labs for Second Life, reports Business Insider. That depends, of course, if Worlds.com is successful with its suit against NCSoft.

Kidrin says that Worlds.com's patent for "System and Method for Enabling Users to Interact in a Virtual Space" dates back to 1997. It's based on the work done on the Steven Spielberg-backed Starbright World, a virtual world service design to "educate, entertain and inspire seriously ill children."

That patent were inherited by Worlds.com.

Don't worry, addicted MMOers. Looks like Kidrin and company are looking for a little cash in the form of licensing fees from Blizzard, et al. Your virtual world of choice won't likely be shuttered. But we'll see.

from kotaku

yup there the ones sueing ncsoft too

[Skyy High]

Maybe NCSoft will get some backing from other MMO companies now. After all, if they lose, Worlds.com will have a precedence to cite in its future lawsuits.

[shadowhand]

Oh, gods... They're still at it?

Ah, got to love that company if for nothing else, then the cheap laughs they give us...

I mean, they don't seriously think that they can win, do they?

[MoonUnit]

Heh, it's been 4 months since I first heard about this. Thought they (Worlds.com) was stomped into the ground.

[satomz]

What next? Pythagoras coming back to life and forbidding us from getting hypotenuse from two sides of a right triangle?

[Nikhera]

God is now going to sue people for making babies. (And he'll sue Michelangelo too.)

[Manwithtwohands]

They do have real patents.

Patent# 7,181,690
System and method for enabling users to interact in a virtual space.

Patent# 6,219,045
Scalable virtual world chat client-server system

Their first one was filed back in 1996, years before Everquest.

[Ryuujinx]

They do have real patents.

Patent# 7,181,690
System and method for enabling users to interact in a virtual space.

Patent# 6,219,045
Scalable virtual world chat client-server system

Their first one was filed back in 1996, years before Everquest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_Link

Prior Art, imo.

[Barinthus]

According to other article in CDF, NC Soft has yet to be served.

[Manwithtwohands]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_Link

Prior Art, imo.

I think world.com's patents center around avatar based 3D virtual worlds.