Vivendi Involved In More Lawsuits

Post by **King of Creation** » Wed Nov 03, 2004 2:37 pm

[Company -> Update]

GameDaily is reporting in <a href="http://biz.gamedaily.com/features.asp?a ... =">this</a> article that Vivendi Universal Games is being named in yet another lawsuit.
 
 This time around, Vivendi, along with 11 other major game publishers, are being sued by the Texas-based law firm McKool Smith. They contend that these companies have infringed on the "Method and Apparatus for Spherical Planning" patent.<blockquote>McKool Smith contends that these 12 companies infringed on their patent, "Method and Apparatus for Spherical Planning," or patent 4,734,690. The patent was originally filed in March 1988 for a specific method of displaying 3-D images on a monitor.
 
 What typically happens in patent infringement cases is the patent holder seeks a percentage of all sales of any products that infringed on their patent. The percentage taken can be very low or very high, and therein lies much of the battling. In this particular case the stakes are potentially astronomically high, as every 3-D title any of these 12 publishers has published could potentially be found to be in violation, with damages due to the patent holder. Interestingly, the complaint filed against the companies does not list any specific damages they are seeking, and instead opted to leave it open at this time.
 
 "It's a very old and very general patent showing a method that uses a moving plane to show 3-D images. The patent is ridiculously broad. It's purely McKool Smith trying to make money. It's an abuse of the legal system," an employee of a major publisher speaking on a condition of anonymity told GameDAILY BIZ.</blockquote>Seems to me like McKool Smith is blatantly and unethically abusing the legal system. This doesn't just have serious implications for just Vivendi, but for the whole gaming world in general. Let's hope it turns out in our favor.
 Spotted at: <A HREF="http://games.slashdot.org/games/04/11/0 ... lashdot</A>

Mr. Teatime · Post by **Mr. Teatime** » Wed Nov 03, 2004 4:57 pm

How is Vivendi linked to interplay again? was it the dark alliance thing?

Post by **King of Creation** » Wed Nov 03, 2004 5:12 pm

They published and distributed all of Interplay's games.

Franz Schubert · Post by **Franz Schubert** » Wed Nov 03, 2004 9:22 pm

I wonder if his first name is really McKool?

S4ur0n27 · Post by **S4ur0n27** » Wed Nov 03, 2004 10:21 pm

http://www.mckoolsmith.com/attorneybio. ... der=&id=47

Post by **King of Creation** » Wed Nov 03, 2004 10:39 pm

That guy is an asshole. I can just tell from his picture and bio.

Sleeze, plain and simple.

S4ur0n27 · Post by **S4ur0n27** » Wed Nov 03, 2004 11:04 pm

What the hell is Phi Beta Kappa?

SDMVersion3 · Post by **SDMVersion3** » Wed Nov 03, 2004 11:21 pm

Fraternity, I'm figuring.

Post by **King of Creation** » Wed Nov 03, 2004 11:22 pm

Looks like an academic fraternity.
http://www.pbk.org/

S4ur0n27 · Post by **S4ur0n27** » Thu Nov 04, 2004 12:44 am

Sounds like a major nerd to me.

T-900 · Post by **T-900** » Thu Nov 04, 2004 4:19 am

Look at his photo on the website sauron linked... He looks like the brother of that irritating bugger who hosts all the american 'worlds scariest police videos!' shows.