Are Video Game Patents Next?

MarcOiL writes "Gamasutra is running an article titled It's Just a Game, Right? Top Mythconceptions on Patent Protection of Video Games where two IP lawyers try to convince the videogame industry of patenting everything in sight: ideas, technical contributions, etc. They show as an example a Microsoft patent on Scoring based upon goals achieved and subjective elements. They also have created a weblog, The Patent Arcade, to promote their business. Will this be the real end of innovation in videogames?"

ugh

[Anonymous Coward]

"where two IP lawyers try to convince the videogame industry of patenting everything in sight: ideas, technical contributions, etc. "

Q. What do you have when you have 2 lawyers buried up to their necks in cement?

A. Not enough cement.

Ask Slashdot

[_Hellfire_]

Will this be the real end of innovation in videogames?"

Yes.

Wow that was an easy Ask Slashdot!

Re:Aren't they already here?

[Game Genie]

Too bad nobody has patented "really frickin slow load times". Perhaps I should get the patent and then refuse to licence it. That would save us all a lot of trouble.

Re:ugh

[Anonymous Coward]

A2. Not enough lawyers.

Re:ugh

[nathanh]

A3. Hockey practise.

Patents need a longer duration

[Overzeetop]

Lets face it - Patent holders, as technical intellectual property creators, have been falling behind the protections afforded to their artistic bretheren! Copyright holders now have an entire century to reap the benfits, adn for their offspring to reap the benefits, of their labors. It seems wholely unfair to limit patents to such short terms as 14 years (20 for non-design).

I believe patents should be perpetual. Once you create it it should be your forever! And you children and your childrens children. We have seen my the slow - nay, slowing pace (based on patents per dollar spent on healthcare)- of patent applications and inventions in the 20th century that patent protection does not provide the needed impetus for our truly creative technical experts to advance the sciences.

There are numerous cases of inventors who could have changed the world, but insted of licencing their technology, compaies just waited until the patents ran out, and the used those iventions with no compensation to the creative mind whatsoever.

This must stop. We all must rise up and demand perpetual patents now.

(aren't you glad there isn't a _really_ organized lobby for patent holders like there is for performance artists?)

Re:Video games...

[fr0dicus]

Half of the fun is being your team with your players.

Speaks volumes about the gameplay...

Re:ugh

[Anonymous Coward]

Q. What do you call a thousand lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?

A. A good start.

Re:M.A.M.E. as prior art

[Inda]

what was the first arcade game to feature a "punch" button?

Double Dragon.

How about the first solid-object polygon game?

Um... Double Dragon!

How many years before the 2nd one?

Double Dragon?

Conspiracy theory

[Temkin]

The TV and Movie industries are desperate to get the 12 to 24 year old males back in front of their crap. Killing game innovation could be just the ticket.

Re:Video games...

[halber_mensch]

The US takes $10 billion per year in ticket sales alone, and that's not counting DVD rentals & sales.

But then at least $3 billion a year is 'lost' to piracy [mpaa.org], which never happens to video games...

Re:ugh

[networkBoy]

I hereby declare my patents on the following:
BFG
Scoring system based upon shooting your opponent
Status display system based on a HUD

That should cover nearly all FPS games. ID, Blizzard, Rockstar, etc are hereby granted royalty free use of said patent. M$: I want 10% of the retail of each copy sold ;)
-nB

Re:ugh

[HopeOS]

For these guys, I think we need...

Q. How many lawyers does it take to shingle a roof?

A. Depends on how thinly you slice them...

Re:ugh

[blunte]

You have target practice.

Re:ugh

[Ian Peon]

Q: Why don't sharks bite lawyers?

A: Professional courtesy!

------

Q: What's the difference between a sucker fish and a lawyer?

A: One's a scum sucking bottom dweller, and the other's a fish!

Re:ugh

[mizhi]

A5: A decorative anchor for ships.