I'm probably going to be flamed here, but I think it's a case of give credit where credit is due. These guys went up against Microsoft, which most people would say were the bad guys at the time. If Mojang is actually using technology that someone has patented, then they (Uniloc) deserve to be payed for it. I don't know if there's any alternative method that can be used in this case, but the workman deserves his pay. Let's face it, it's not like Mojang are exactly poor at the moment.
Hello fellow uniloc supporter! Im glad you wish that the maker of Minecraft, the game you play, has to pay millions of dollars to a total idiot!
I dislike the fact that seemingly every other post, has pointed out the typos; can we please get over the "Mindcraft" and "Majong" typos?
Its not typeos. He probalby did it on prupose, since he ddi it mroe than jsut once. He ovbiousyl doestn nkow how to spell, or he jsut feles gutily nad calsl it by a diffrernt nmae. Hwo coudl you tpye boht wrods that point directly at Ntoch worng.
----
I love how about 5 people here are all supporting uniloc. Its kinda funny, they think Mojang has to pay for all their robberies. xD
Damn... wiki says it's an Australian founded software company, hope no-one goes hatin' on us Aussies for this.
Seems to me like we get little gaming attention as it is, this can't be good for us
By my own judgment, I don't believe that Ric is a bad person, nor is he responsible for this. Please lay off on Ric-bashing.
I sent this letter to the primary representative of Uniloc, Brad Davis, via their website's supplied email address:
Uniloc is neither innovative nor an asset to any technological development in any realm. The opacity and ambiguity of your website belies this fact with little doubt.
You reference America on your front page, despite being based in Luxembourg. You fail to acknowledge the existence of your American branch on your webpage. This shows a complete lack of insight or forethought, and may cause visitors of your page to be perplexed or bewildered at the contradiction. I'm not even going to bother addressing many of the portions of the website due to the absolutely undeniable fact that they're a pathetic effort at making the appearance of having PR. Everything is dated in 2010, and is of such little importance or significance that it appears quite shoddy and halfhearted.
In failing to post news articles regarding any developments, you've shown that you don't care about being a driving force in the software industry. In fact, the only thing you've proven you can do is patent things (and not even this, as the patent became property of the company after the fact) and file lawsuits. Are you developing technology? No. Are you facilitating software security? No. Any company could easily do either of these things just as easily, while being constructive to innovation rather than destructive. All you can do, by your own admission, is patent ideas and reap the rewards: "Uniloc focuses on R&D, development and licensing of its technology by a large portfolio of intellectual property (IP) and software." Now, I can read. This is obviously a thinly veiled admission that you thrive solely off of licensing and settlements (hereafter referred to as "tribute"). You state that "One of the ways companies work with us is by licensing our software. It’s more efficient than self-development, and does offer the advantage of a device recognition methodology that has been patented, battle tested and proven effective." This is a wordy way of saying you're too lazy to spend any amount of effort actually developing your ideas into workable products, and that you believe companies should pay you money, while they do all the work, rather than using a software module or system of your own development. Do you expect to garner respect and renown? Of course not, but money always comes first in this corporate world after all.
If you want to make money off of an idea, an IP item, then it had better be a darn well original one. Device recognition, unlike software keys, is neither a very original idea nor particularly contrived. It is a logical extension of the digital age; the ownership of a patent concerning device session verification is such a ridiculous idea that it could only be birthed by bureaucratically inclined scoundrels. There isn't even conclusive evidence that your associate was the first to think of it; the idea of proving thoughts is ludicrous, and deriving the Android clause from the existing patent is underhanded and devious.
What other things have you innovated? Your website claims that you are finding "big ideas", yet the evidence of a single truly innovative idea in a period of almost two decades is nonexistant. As mentioned, the "innovation" of software keys is even cast in doubt, as many software items use the software key system but owe nothing to you.
Your device recognition technology has done little to nothing in stopping piracy. Googling the names of your clients' software and the word "crack" or "keygen" yield plenty of results where your product has been entirely unsatisfactory, if it could even be called a product! Its only purpose would then be to inconvenience users who are wrongly victimized by the system you supposedly innovated. Yet you don't even have a products page on your website, because that would imply plurality, as well as the fact that one patent can even be considered a "product", and that would be misleading. For twenty years, your company has done nothing but protect its supposed property in order to hoard money from unsuspecting companies who license your ineffective services or heaven forbid, attempt to make their own software security system. You claim to protect your clients' tribute money, but fail to secure the majority of lawsuits you file. This shows both poor legal judgment, and desperation to secure settlements from large corporations, as well as false promises.
It's no coincidence that your Wikipedia page lists "Patent Troll" under Related Pages. One of my favorite quotes from your blog is as follows: "Now, I am by no means a spammer, but I’m guessing that spammers try to make as much money as they can without incurring great costs." Alright, perfectly reasonable statement. Allow me to issue my own: "Now, I am by no means a patent troll, but I’m guessing that patent trolls try to make as much money as they can without incurring great costs." I think that's a perfectly reasonable judgment, and regarding the above evidence that your company is attempting to avoid as much effort, innovation, and investment as possible to acquire capital from a single patent and related frivolous lawsuits, I would thereby classify your company as a patent troll, and I do not believe that many would argue with that conclusion.
I am very disappointed in your bogus claims to innovation and your frivolous lawsuits which make a mockery of the justice system.
I keep hearing a bunch of people saying Ric Richardson is the bad guy here. Now, don't get me wrong, Uniloc is a patent troll company and I support Mojang in this case without question, but people are ganging up on the wrong person.
Ric Richardson, from the information I could gather, is the inventor of the software Uniloc is suing over, and was chairman of Uniloc until 2007. He stepped down to work as an independent, full-time inventor. He still makes contributions to the company and holds shares for it, but does not take part in the company's actions.
This is a lawsuit happening in 2012, 5 years after he stepped down. In Richardson's current state, he can do little to affect the actions of the company aside of pull its shares from it. Sure, he was the one who got the patent, and the patent may be very broad and unrealistic, but with a company sufficiently large enough, the decision to take action is left to the lawyers.
Hello fellow uniloc supporter! Im glad you wish that the maker of Minecraft, the game you play, has to pay millions of dollars to a total idiot!
-snip-
And your points are...
With this I mean that you are not giving full arguments. Besides, Mojang has made many more millons from Minecraft. You're acting like a complete fanboy. I want full arguments about why Notch shouldn't pay money to Ulinoc for a legit reason. Not someone that points out to a Ulinoc supporter saying that the creator of the game that he plays has to pay millons. It's like Notch robs a bank, and he has to pay, and you say the excact thing to the person that supports those who catched notch.
12. Mojang is directly infringing one or more claims of the ’067 patent in this judicial
district and elsewhere in Texas, including at least claim 107, without the consent or authorization
of Uniloc, by or through making, using, offering for sale, selling and/or importing Android based
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.
Maybe Notch should write a little game called "Mindcraft" without said Server connection stuff just to bug them
By my own judgment, I don't believe that Ric is a bad person, nor is he responsible for this. Please lay off on Ric-bashing.
I sent this letter to the primary representative of Uniloc, Brad Davis, via their website's supplied email address:
Thank you. * Hugs http404error*
If you are going to contact them in any way, please do so in a similar fashion to Ben here. Hate mail and death threats will go nowhere, and may even get you a temporary posting restriction on this forum. Please be civil if you do contact anyone from Uniloc as you are not just representing yourself, you are representing the entire Minecraft forum community. I, for one, want to uphold a reputation of being classy and awesome people.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
If you are having minecraft problems, make sure to check out the help site.
Maybe Notch should write a little game called "Mindcraft" without said Server connection stuff just to bug them
Thatd be funny. Kinda thing hed do too.
And your points are...
With this I mean that you are not giving full arguments. Besides, Mojang has made many more millons from Minecraft. You're acting like a complete fanboy. I want full arguments about why Notch shouldn't pay money to Ulinoc for a legit reason. Not someone that points out to a Ulinoc supporter saying that the creator of the game that he plays has to pay millons. It's like Notch robs a bank, and he has to pay, and you say the excact thing to the person that supports those who catched notch.
Don't worry guys; this is pretty common. Companies will dedicate themselves to accusing others of stolen property and try to 'recover' it. A lot of times it's just scams that try and get IP's handed over to them by the courts. I don't have stats, but these are pretty low-level threats.
Can't guarantee this for sure; but a typo for 'Mindcraft' could be an angle to use. Since your game is called 'Minecraft' you aren't the accused infringer.
After reading Ric Richardson's two most recent posts on his blog, I think he inadvertently proves that patents are not a good idea.
Perhaps most notably, he says that the patent system is self-regulating because it is complicated and expensive to trek through. What this seems to mean though is that individuals and small businesses, the people who need patents the most, have almost no hope of making it through the system, while big businesses have an easy time using contacts and mountains of money to get all the patents they want. This is probably part of the reason why patent troll firms are able to exist in the first place.
I'm sure plenty of patent examiners actually are nice enough people who don't want ridiculous patents clogging the system, yet such seems to be the case anyway. This suggests that there is a general naivety about them at best, a disconnect between the noble way they want the patent system to work and the awful way it actually is working under their watch.
I guess don't see any reason to believe that Ric Richardson is not the responsible individual he says he is, but he doesn't seem to realize that responsible people are very rare on this planet. The paradigm shift that's occurring today is a backlash against abuse from big companies and patent control firms. I wonder if he could have been made to realize that if no one had sent him emails full of swear words.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Author of , Minecraft's most noteworthy Mega Man-themed resource pack!
Also the author of Tales from the Creature Keeper, a book series where humanity is long gone, but its successors, both domesticated and feral, could learn a lot from its legacy.
I found this little snippet of info on the Patent Troll page of Wikipedia.
An individual case often begins with a perfunctory infringement complaint,[21] or even a mere threat of suit, which is often enough to encourage settlement for the nuisance or "threat value" of the suit by purchasing a license to the patent. In the United States, suits are often brought in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, known for favoring plaintiffs and for expertise in patent suits.[36]
Basically, they have the cards in their favor since they are based in Texas. And since Texas courts favor the plaintiffs and not the defendants, I do not know how Mojang is gonna win this one.
Their method is simple: Base your business in Texas, become patent troll. Sue anyone within your reach. Take every case to a single court that would overly favor you. Win every time.
It seems like they have almost already won. (Although I don't think we should give up, though.)
Edit: This wikipedia page is a good read though. Funny how I found it as one of the related links to the Ric Richardson page. Almost like it's trying to tell me something......
It almost like me blaming someone for stealing my idea, when they had no contact with me whatsoever, and are LITERALLY on the opposite side of the earth. Most likely, if this is not complete bogus, this Uniloc company got a vague patent filed just so that (from a legal standpoint) everyone else is at fault.
That said, I am still in favor of Mojang, mainly because Uniloc is trying to sue so many poeple AT ONCE. Imagine a single person trying to start a war against an entire army... IT IS NOT A SMART MOVE
This might just be my opinion, but software patents are extremely vague. Anyone could write almost identical or similar code to do something almost exactly the same or similar as someone else already has.
They could do this without even knowing it was done before, and trying to find if you have infringed one someone's software patent is much more difficult than with inventions such as the car, or a light bulb.
Some people (Uniloc) need to get their balls off the table and get a life, stop screwing with others.
-And I agree with cyberhawk42
Uniloc isn't dumb for filling lawsuits against people, but they are just getting way to money hungry, which I really don't see how they will pull off all of the cases. The lawsuit itself is ridiculous and pretty much makes it seem as if this world we live in has no theme of innovation whatsoever, which is completely absurd.
Waitamoment...
What?
Their patent is from 1992.
A technology patent has a 20 year lifespan. A software patent has only 5 years.
These guys have no legal grounds for a lawsuit in the first place.How did they even manage to win in any of their lawsuits?
Uniloc really does not know what they just got themselves into..
People DDOS, Hack, Zombie (Use it to log on and destroy the server/ban everyone), Blackmail, Pretend to be someone they are not on Skype (Try to get FTP access to delete the server or give out viruses) and do some crazy **** against other servers that are just competition of theirs.. Its happened I've seen it before you would think going to jail isn't worth some server that you play on daily.
If Uniloc disrupts Minecraft's development things aren't going to be pretty. I seriously doubt that these Patent Trolls will, but if they do watch out because there is a lot of people that do stupid things in the heat of the moment. XD
*Disclaimer*
I do not support the actions of said individuals that would be doing said criminal acts
It almost like me blaming someone for stealing my idea, when they had no contact with me whatsoever, and are LITERALLY on the opposite side of the earth. Most likely, if this is not complete bogus, this Uniloc company got a vague patent filed just so that (from a legal standpoint) everyone else is at fault.
That said, I am still in favor of Mojang, mainly because Uniloc is trying to sue so many poeple AT ONCE. Imagine a single person trying to start a war against an entire army... IT IS NOT A SMART MOVE
what they are doing is like a instant unwilling money charity get EVERYONE to use your patent then sue them all for mass profit it has been done before and has never worked unitard or whatever they are called are total morons
so after reading the text of this patent at http://www.google.com/patents/US6857067, I just wanna get one thing straight: This company's lawyer, s/he claims to some judge that this company owns the patent; and maybe s/he even shows a reciept. then, a court employee contacts the patent office to verify that this claim of ownership or reciept is legitimate, right?
so they just applied a common procedure to the internet... um, the US government should be suing this company for using that process.
Then again, I'm quite used to deciphring weirdly phrased statements like that(for example, legalese), and I still had trouble following what was going on so maybe I misunderstood. but I'm pretty sure the only way they got that patent is by confusing an underpaid, overworked government employee...
Hello fellow uniloc supporter! Im glad you wish that the maker of Minecraft, the game you play, has to pay millions of dollars to a total idiot!
Its not typeos. He probalby did it on prupose, since he ddi it mroe than jsut once. He ovbiousyl doestn nkow how to spell, or he jsut feles gutily nad calsl it by a diffrernt nmae. Hwo coudl you tpye boht wrods that point directly at Ntoch worng.
----
I love how about 5 people here are all supporting uniloc. Its kinda funny, they think Mojang has to pay for all their robberies. xD
Seems to me like we get little gaming attention as it is, this can't be good for us
I sent this letter to the primary representative of Uniloc, Brad Davis, via their website's supplied email address:
Ric Richardson, from the information I could gather, is the inventor of the software Uniloc is suing over, and was chairman of Uniloc until 2007. He stepped down to work as an independent, full-time inventor. He still makes contributions to the company and holds shares for it, but does not take part in the company's actions.
This is a lawsuit happening in 2012, 5 years after he stepped down. In Richardson's current state, he can do little to affect the actions of the company aside of pull its shares from it. Sure, he was the one who got the patent, and the patent may be very broad and unrealistic, but with a company sufficiently large enough, the decision to take action is left to the lawyers.
And your points are...
With this I mean that you are not giving full arguments. Besides, Mojang has made many more millons from Minecraft. You're acting like a complete fanboy. I want full arguments about why Notch shouldn't pay money to Ulinoc for a legit reason. Not someone that points out to a Ulinoc supporter saying that the creator of the game that he plays has to pay millons. It's like Notch robs a bank, and he has to pay, and you say the excact thing to the person that supports those who catched notch.
Watch this(out of Notchs PDF http://notch.net/wp-...2/07/mojang.pdf ) :
Maybe Notch should write a little game called "Mindcraft" without said Server connection stuff just to bug them
Thank you. * Hugs http404error*
If you are going to contact them in any way, please do so in a similar fashion to Ben here. Hate mail and death threats will go nowhere, and may even get you a temporary posting restriction on this forum. Please be civil if you do contact anyone from Uniloc as you are not just representing yourself, you are representing the entire Minecraft forum community. I, for one, want to uphold a reputation of being classy and awesome people.
Thatd be funny. Kinda thing hed do too.
umadbro?
Can't guarantee this for sure; but a typo for 'Mindcraft' could be an angle to use. Since your game is called 'Minecraft' you aren't the accused infringer.
After reading Ric Richardson's two most recent posts on his blog, I think he inadvertently proves that patents are not a good idea.
Perhaps most notably, he says that the patent system is self-regulating because it is complicated and expensive to trek through. What this seems to mean though is that individuals and small businesses, the people who need patents the most, have almost no hope of making it through the system, while big businesses have an easy time using contacts and mountains of money to get all the patents they want. This is probably part of the reason why patent troll firms are able to exist in the first place.
I'm sure plenty of patent examiners actually are nice enough people who don't want ridiculous patents clogging the system, yet such seems to be the case anyway. This suggests that there is a general naivety about them at best, a disconnect between the noble way they want the patent system to work and the awful way it actually is working under their watch.
I guess don't see any reason to believe that Ric Richardson is not the responsible individual he says he is, but he doesn't seem to realize that responsible people are very rare on this planet. The paradigm shift that's occurring today is a backlash against abuse from big companies and patent control firms. I wonder if he could have been made to realize that if no one had sent him emails full of swear words.
Also the author of Tales from the Creature Keeper, a book series where humanity is long gone, but its successors, both domesticated and feral, could learn a lot from its legacy.
Basically, they have the cards in their favor since they are based in Texas. And since Texas courts favor the plaintiffs and not the defendants, I do not know how Mojang is gonna win this one.
Their method is simple: Base your business in Texas, become patent troll. Sue anyone within your reach. Take every case to a single court that would overly favor you. Win every time.
It seems like they have almost already won. (Although I don't think we should give up, though.)
Edit: This wikipedia page is a good read though. Funny how I found it as one of the related links to the Ric Richardson page. Almost like it's trying to tell me something......
This might just be my opinion, but software patents are extremely vague. Anyone could write almost identical or similar code to do something almost exactly the same or similar as someone else already has.
They could do this without even knowing it was done before, and trying to find if you have infringed one someone's software patent is much more difficult than with inventions such as the car, or a light bulb.
Some people (Uniloc) need to get their balls off the table and get a life, stop screwing with others.
-And I agree with cyberhawk42
What?
Their patent is from 1992.
A technology patent has a 20 year lifespan. A software patent has only 5 years.
These guys have no legal grounds for a lawsuit in the first place.How did they even manage to win in any of their lawsuits?
People DDOS, Hack, Zombie (Use it to log on and destroy the server/ban everyone), Blackmail, Pretend to be someone they are not on Skype (Try to get FTP access to delete the server or give out viruses) and do some crazy **** against other servers that are just competition of theirs.. Its happened I've seen it before you would think going to jail isn't worth some server that you play on daily.
If Uniloc disrupts Minecraft's development things aren't going to be pretty. I seriously doubt that these Patent Trolls will, but if they do watch out because there is a lot of people that do stupid things in the heat of the moment. XD
*Disclaimer*
I do not support the actions of said individuals that would be doing said criminal acts
Especially since Uniloc would blame Mojang and sue them again :/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniloc
so they just applied a common procedure to the internet... um, the US government should be suing this company for using that process.
Then again, I'm quite used to deciphring weirdly phrased statements like that(for example, legalese), and I still had trouble following what was going on so maybe I misunderstood. but I'm pretty sure the only way they got that patent is by confusing an underpaid, overworked government employee...
[represent]