Blizzard

Intellectual Property Analysis of Apple Inc.’s U.S. Patent No. 7,966,578

On June 21, 2011, Apple Computer, Inc. (hereafter “Apple”) was awarded U.S. Patent No. 7,966,578 (hereafter ‘578) titled “Portable Multifunction Device, Method, and Graphical User Interface for Translating Displayed Content.” The ‘578 patent seeks to envelop a wide array of technologies related to touch interfaces currently implemented on many smart phones and tablet computers, and adds some interesting predictions about (and protections for) the future of touch interfaces.

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Intellectual Property Analysis of Uniloc Software Registration System Patent Referenced in Lawsuit with Sony, McAfee, et. al.

This week’s Patently Obvious report focuses on the patent holdings of Uniloc. On July 29, 2010, Uniloc USA, Inc. filed a lawsuit against seven software companies including Activision Blizzard, Sony Corporation of America, and McAfee, Inc., alleging infringement of a Uniloc USA patent describing a system for software registration. Uniloc filed a similar suit against Microsoft in 2003.

This report focuses on patents of interest which predate and are concurrent to the Uniloc patent, including public-domain alternatives.

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Gaming the Gamers: Intellectual Property Analysis of Walker Digital LLC v. Activision Inc. et al

On January 3, 2011, Walker Digital, an IP focused company well known for cases against Microsoft and Facebook, filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Zynga, Activision and the latter’s subsidiary Blizzard Entertainment. The asserted patent, U.S 6,425,828 (hereafter ‘828), claims a method for conducting a networked electronic tournament for a plurality of players and storing player information for use in subsequent sessions. Zynga (FarmVille), Activision (Call of Duty and Guitar Hero) and Blizzard (World of Warcraft) are giants in the online gaming industry.

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