a system and method ... for preventing unauthorized access to electronic data stored on an electronic device.
It is not known at this time what, if anything, this means for Mojang. Of note, Markus "Notch" Persson has certainly voiced his opinion on the matter, stating that he "will throw piles of money at making sure they don't get a cent". Little else is known about the lawsuit at this time.
Notch has made the lawsuit PDF available for viewing, which you can see by clicking here. He has also posted a detailed write-up on his perspective on software patents - you can view it by clicking here.
Uniloc appears to be suing numerous other gaming producers allegedly violating this patent, including Square Enix, Electronic Arts and others.
Any further specifics of the case will be covered as they develop.
UPDATE: Ric Richardson has posted his views on the situation as well, which you can read by clicking here. It is important to note that Mr. Richardson has had no direct part in the lawsuit of Uniloc vs. Mojang.
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This week, David and Toby talk about Minecon 2012, Creeper clothes and other awesome Minecraftiness - check it out!
Last time I checked, Mojang does not own anything names Mindcraft. Case closed.
hey i live in texas, and i don't agree with them
From what I've read, I get the feeling that what's really happening is that the makers of the Android smartphones licenced authentication software for their product from Uniloc (which is what this company does when not making predatory lawsuits) which makes up part of the Android's OS, which individual apps are able to use. I find it significant that in the lawsuit, Uniloc specifies Android apps, as opposed to those other smartphones like the iPhone, which also runs a version of the Minecraft Pocket Edition app. I suspect that Uniloc is suing those companies that either don't require authentication to use the app, or may have included their own authentication software, and thus don't feel the need to pay Uniloc royalties for something they don't use in the first place, on the assumption that Uniloc's authentication software is being used without permission.Never mind. The Android OS is open source, so Uniloc is nothing but a lawsuit happy patent troll. Crush them, Mojang! Crush them so hard that their great grandchildren will be afraid to crawl out from under whatever rock spawned them.
Keep in mind that this is the same justice system that allowed McDonalds to loose, pay tons of money, and have to label that their coffee was hot. It required hemorrhoid cream to write on the label "Do not take orally", and upheld the fact that Harmony Gold owns the concept of "Giant Walking Robots" here in this country. Not to mention how many "Guilty" go free and how many "Innocent" never get proven that way. Don't get me wrong, it works most of the time. However I think in a case like this it's just a roll of the dice.
My personal opinion is that it is stupid, and the guy is grabbing for doe. But I don't have all the information yet so I don't know.. The patent seems rather vague. It would be like me filing a patent for digitally storing media on an electronic device. "Ya ya know if you put all these 1's and 0's on a hard drive and then play them back through this program that understand it's. It will make music ya know". Then suing everyone who then sells and mp3.
Love the guys defense of his law suit though. Patent laws exist to protect the little people from the bigger corporations. Yet he is filing suit again Mojang a 4 year old start up with one title.
And I'm not so sure they won against Microsoft. That thing to over turned so many times I think someone at MS finally decided to make the problem go away.
MinecraftMindcraft.Uniloc wants money...... GIVE THEM CREEPERS TO THE HOUSE >
applications for use on cellular phones and/or tablet devices that require communication with a
server to perform a license check to prevent the unauthorized use of said application, including,
but not limited to, Mindcraft."
After filing a lawsuit against Mojang for a game that doesn't even exist (i.e. poor research), is there even a case against Mojang? These people seem like they're trying to scam large, or at least well-off companies, out of money.
And adding to whoever mentioned that the patent itself is actually expired, these people shouldn't have any viable case, and will be out of money pretty soon. especially if anyone counter-sues them. i forget if they could potentially be sent to jail for fraud if there patent isn't active or not.
OH NO, WE CANT HAVE YOU QUIT MINECRAFT FOR A MONTH!!!!!!!!!!
Hahahaha Im kidding.
Does Uniloc own the Android?
(I do have a point to this, don't worry.)
That's the thing, They did! If you observe a spell check of Minecraft, one of the options I have seen before is "Mindcraft".
Even though this entire thing is a load of crap. You do have to know and respect that as fans, we are not allowed into the courtroom. We can hope and cheer, but not assist.
That does raise a thought, what if the jury has people who play Minecraft?
HOW ABOUT THE FACT THAT THE PATENT THEY ARE SUING OVER IS EXPIRED, YOU MISSED THIS BECAUSE YOU WERE ALL BUSY LOOKING FOR TYPOS.
besides typos make little to no difference in a court room, especially when you put a not limited to statement before hand.
methinks they probably reinstated the patent with a "like new" innovation giving them a surplus ten years or so, but since they referenced Ric's ( or whoever had to pen the sig) patent this case might get tossed for a better more well thought out case.
And really, it takes three seconds to realize that Ric left the company because he made his money already, he sold the company on a patenting technique that would open the door LATER on for more sue cases.
He may not be here today to guide the company, but he set the foundation of how they are going to pull money out of the economy for the next twenty years.
so tell me again why Ric Rich-tard-son is not the face of evil? He is literally trying to con you all into believing none of this idea even presented itself to his mindset while being in the company.
he left before more of the cases went to court why?
hush money.
Uniloc cuts some profits from the cases and throws it into an account for awhile, or an investing hedge fund, soon the investments go sour, the patent expires, come to find out the investing company has to charge interest on their loaned money, but guess who's firm gets the return? Uniloc writes it all off as a loss, and even gets some fringe benefits from it.