Gamerprudence: Video Game Law Explained

See how the pieces fit. Interactive Entertainment Law is a ten billion dollar per year industry and growing. Read thoughtful analysis by Attorney Mike Mintz on the latest issues in "video game law" and related IP practice.

About Me

My Photo
Name:
Location: North East, United States

I work in publishing because I love words and information. The process of expressing thought, particularly verbal or written, demonstrates the most divine attributes of humanity. In the early 21st century we have experienced rapid evolution in the dissemination of information. Connecting billions of people in an ironic deluge of information has diluted the market for creativity. We must now rethink what it means to express and contribute content to the swelling marketplace of ideas. May we be guided in our quest to express by two great pieces of writing advice: "Fundamental accuracy of statement is the one true morality of writing." (Ezra Pound) "Omit needless words." (Strunk & White, The Elements of Style)

Thursday, January 11, 2007

"Big 3" Facing Port Patent Lawsuit

From PSX Extreme

The bigger "big business" gets, the more lawsuits begin to arise. This time, every member of the "Big 3" is under fire by one party: Fenner Investments based out of Texas. The suit alleges that the three corporations infringed on Fenner's 1998 patent for a "low-voltage port interface."

Apparently, this suit is all about joystick ports, and the plaintiff is seeking damages and an injunction against Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. We don't have any further details as of yet, but the patent summary (courtesy of Gamasutra) reads-

"The joystick port interface according the present invention is a low power port which interfaces a typical 5 Volt joystick peripheral device with a lower power computer port. The low-voltage joystick port interface includes a bidirectional buffer circuit and a pulse generator which, together, generate a digital pulse signal, representing a joystick coordinate position, based on an input analog measurement signal."

Patent lawsuits are a dime a dozen, and with all the technological advancements in gaming lately, there could be a whole slew of these obscure suits in the very near future.

posted by Mike | 5:13 PM

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home