Worlds.com aims to sue over the virtual world of Warcraft

[TalonBot]

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, News items



Business Insider (no relation) is reporting that Worlds.com CEO Thom Kidrin is intending to sue anyone who will not license their virtual worlds product through him, and since Kidrin claims they hold the patent to virtual worlds, everyone has to get a license. Since this is a legal issue I'll lay this out in a few easy to read steps:

1. 1. Thom calls up Blizzard, Linden Lab, etc...
   2. Thom says "Hey, I invented virtual worlds! Pay me money since you're making money off the concept."
   3. Blizzard and Linden Lab laugh and hang up, assuming it's a prank call.
   4. Thom goes to court.

That's the gist of it. Kidrin plans on going after a few other companies before knocking on Blizzard's door: notably, Worlds.com has already filed suit against NCsoft, which publishes City of Heroes and Guild Wars.

How did Worlds.com wind up with the patent to the idea of a scalable virtual world with thousands of users? Kidrin has said that they invented the virtual worlds with a product for sick kids called Starbright World back in 1997. (Though apparently the concept was thought up back in 1995.)

However, let's take a look at the definition of Cyberspace. It was first used in William Gibson's 1982 story "Burning Chrome" and again used in a few of his books, with "Neuromancer" being the most popular. Gibson's definition for Cyberspace reads:Continue reading Worlds.com aims to sue over the virtual world of Warcraft

Worlds.com aims to sue over the virtual world of Warcraft originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 11 Mar 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.




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