Sony, EA, Ubisoft, Disney named in patent suit

So i can come up with an idea patent it then sue a major company when it actually makes it a reality to get big bucks? They just want some easy money. Stupid people like this should be exiled to some island with no phone or something.

they wont get a dime

...it's taken them this long to file a suit? I'm guessing they intentionally let most of these happen just to try getting more money via the (jacked up) court systems. Because honestly, how could they not have realized this sooner (assuming it is true)?

damn...

Strange, so Sega's Seaman isn't mentioned? I remember talking to the fish in that game. The patent system is fine in the United States, just a bunch of soar losers in the tech field is all. It's their job to keep up on the trades and discover in development what products are going to use their patent. Still, Bareis has no ground to stand on, because the games in question must load their information onto either a hard disk, voiding the patent, or into RAM, again voiding the patent. The DISC (not DISK) is used a delivery method of medium only. Bareis must have a stupid lawyer and a stupid staff. I wish them the epic fail.

If Bareis' patent is filed as "disk", and we use "disc", which comes from the Edison-era "discograph" as one of the phonograph alternatives over a century ago (a phonograph is a cylinder, which a discograph is what we slangly call a record, or a platter), then they misfiled their patent and have ZERO to go on.

I guess the big question is could voice use be done any other way?? It's kinda a crappy setup if they have the rights to the only way to do voice commands (and also believed it's termed monopolizing which in itself is illegal). I feel sorry if they did lose money to companies using this idea, but really am hoping they don't win if they haven't really been wronged.

its because of greedy bastards like bareis tech that lawyers are payed so much. i hope the court rules against them under the provision that their case is unjust and unfair

im pretty sure Bareis Technologies is a troll company to make money, they have to sue others. end of story.

Voice chat has been pretty much been part of mp for as long as i can remember. It's only when these companies have success do people sue each other.

I don't see how this could work, how could the idea of speech recognition be patented?

Money hungry id!ots.... Oh well so many patents created sometimes things can be created and look the same but they really are not.

Another patent lawsuit based on BS and just obviously another ploy at taking money. Seriously I hope it doesn't go through and these pathetic money grubbers don't get a dime from it.

they really need to make a new patent law that you need to make a workable or physical representation of your patent in 10 years or you forfeit it. Truly making a innovative tech patent and then sitting on it for a decade should be against the law, we are in a depression for Pete's sake, and we need all the new tech and industry we can get; but this seedy patent falandary is slowing down progress, that's what should really be considered the crime!

Jagex are also getting sued, they are the biggest developer in the UK, yet they aren't mentioned. Nice, Gamespot.

I'm gonna go ahead and patent ideas. I'll be back when I get my first check for $6,000,000,000.

What a shock, Sony geting sued again...

The patent system in the U.S. needs an overhaul, big time. They're probably just being patent trolls, and it's sick to think that companies even do this sort of thing. It makes no sense to patent something and not use it.

OK, they're just now figuring this out after all those years? I find it crazy that some of these people are allowed patents for general things. Maybe I should've patented oxygen when they first started putting patents on record..I'd be making a killin $$$ right now.

The only ones who thrive in this economy are the lawyers...

lol at measly companies gunning after the big dogs.. i mean why only show their faces now? they could've done it years ago upon the mention games release? obviously they're just after the money, not the rights

for a greedy company they seem reasonable or at least compared to other d-bag companies that have sued even within this year. this sucks that no gaming company went online properly and are getting sued repeatedly by different companies

I know the economy's bad, but do you really have to sue companies for games developed years ago?

It seems like these kind of stories are on a monthly basis. Those games have been out for a long time. They should of sued back then but not now

lol this patent is pure BS, it would be like someone patented the idea of making water distribution easier thru "tubes" centuries ago before plumbing was invented and now suing every plumbers and companies making plumbings for patent infrigment. they didn't invent anything it's a concept, something's wrong with this country.

Ubi ,why not make a rainbow six game so we gamers can kill these people in the game or rescue them , make them as hostages :D

@shii666 - haha, I overlooked the obvious, but at least I didn't have to go to any great lengths to find what I did, just Google'ing "disk-based speech recognition" took me straight to the patent as well, first Google hit I believe

Crap-crap-MEGA CRAP... I love all tom clancy's games and I love socom

suing Disney? ok they had sad childhoods

@ lamprey263 Good research, but that is kinda what I got out of the suings' descript of the crime. (in the above paragraph, mind you.)

Well, whatever. I hope the suing company dies. (Not the people in it, mind you. Just the company.)

oh, not this again !!

Ah yes, good ol' Eastern District of Texas, a.k.a "Patent Valley" Garbage like this is the reason why patent busting has become the latest movement by 1st Amendment advocates like the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Method-based software patents are complete horse ****.

Okay, I've done a little research, I believe the patent they're talking about is << LINK REMOVED >>, and from I've read I think this is a patent that these companies may be able to fight off. First off, in the patent discription (which you can read through the provided link), basically describes the patent as limted to users ability to access media through the use of voice command, such as selecting music or video tracks on a CD-ROM or various optical disc based media storage, rather than accessing said information using a less user-friendly button controlled media navigation system; however, the patent at no point describes such application for the use of interactive software such as that of video games. Furthermore, one must look at the primary applications of the patent, one of these being to prevent wear and tear of the device by limiting a users physical contact with the media device, which was not an intended purpose of the use of the voice recognition software. Secondly, another primary purposes of the patent is to allow users access to media through voice command, something users of video games are not given an option of doing, while also none of these games are hands free as is part of the patents purpose as well.

sueing Disney? and they expect to win wow

Are you kidding me? Your suing Disney out of all companies. You might as well sue Activision too.

sueing DISNEY??!! Have a heart....

The McGreedy attack again.

I ought to take advantage on the patent I took out on "a method of sentience wherein a creature becomes aware of its surroundings."

This company Bareis Technologies is likely just a "patent troll" office. These leeches usually get thousands or more patents filed for various technologies, which they have no intention of ever making or utilizing in any way. They just wait for someone to make a bunch of money off of a similar technology, then sue them for millions. Same thing with the wireless controller lawsuit. Also, they seem to always center around Texas, because often rule in their favor there. This kind of trolling is happening more and more. Don't believe me? Look it up! << LINK REMOVED >>

If they had a strong case to begin with, they would have files the suit awhile ago....

socom 1 came out in 02 not 96

Oooooooh lawsuits...

that patent only mentions cd-roms and basicaly sounds like anything stored on a cd-rom is there invention... i have no clue but sounds like a lose to me

The electronics industry needs to take a more literal cut-throat approach to these bottom-feeders.

@advanracer I think they were waiting until they could get the most money out of the suit if they win.

It would be better to know how these games differ from other games in which you can communicate with other players, namely almost every multiplayer game out there; this article doesn't really tell us much. EDIT: I think I found the patent online [<< LINK REMOVED >>], I'm still trying to make sense of it though and how it relates to these companies' violations of that patent.

if it was such a big deal to them, they shoulda sued as soon as the first game violated it, obvious cash grab this