Patent software and sims multiplayer

[CptTrips]

This is funny.  A few months back, an old co-worker of mine at Lockheed-Martin sent me a quote from a mailing list of simulation engineers that do operation research for the DoD.  In the email, a guy from one of the commercial research labs was saying that they had received a letter from a game company claiming that they and all other research labs doing DIS and HLA simulation work for the DoD were in violation of their latency patents and wanted money from them.  The consensus was that these guys had a screw loose.  The consensus was that this patent (which was in Dale’s name but I’m certain that it was IEN rattling the sabers) was little more than fairly obvious derivations of much earlier published works like DIS that have been around for decades.  So, they were putting out a request for gathering up documentation to slap these guys down with, including input from the lead engineer who worked on the original DIS implementation. I never did hear anything more about it so I guess they sweety-slapped who ever it was back into place.

With no disrespect intended towards HT, if you’re willing to pay a lawyer, you can get almost ANYTHING patented.  Now whether the patent is actually defendable in a court challenge is a whole ‘nother ballgame.  



Wab

[funkedup]

Wild Bill has become Andrew Loeb.

[Bcnu]

cc Wab, unless that's not the point, but rather to disrupt competition by imposing the burden of legal defense on the target (or just fish for cash:  see SCO vs. IBM).

Tort reform now!  (see, it's applicable to the OT board after all).

On a technical level, any method that doesn't involve a dynamic time-averaging of the packet timestamps to figure out the actual latency between client and host doesn't apply to this patent (assuming I'm reading it right), among other possible exclusions.

Heck any UDP packet game implementation probably renders this method obsolete as the method as described seems to depend on in-order packet reception.

[WestyAH]

AKWabbit. That was him (Stealey)

From a link posted in the topic on this on AGW.  My how the plot thickens.

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1061915/000115752302001447/a4290695.txt


About 80% of the way downthe lawsuit is mentioned.  They also lost the the right to brand the name "Warbirds" too it would seem.

  Westy



 (I have faith that the good folks at HTC will perservere. And I honestly hope HiTech and Co. are able to squeak slap the scum from iEN into next year.)



p.s. (DocDoom? Lad must be lost. That charm school they want to send you to is two flights down, third door on your left     )

[Revvin]

Originally posted by WestyAH
(I have faith that the good folks at HTC will perservere. And I honestly hope HiTech and Co. are able to squeak slap the scum from iEN into next year.)

I sincerely hope so but so many times it seems like the law protects the wrong people sometimes.

I'm glad I'm no longer supporting that imbecile's bid to destroy another simulation and the community around it. Those that still subscribe will do so in the full knowledge that their money is helping Wild Bill further this action. Of course some will try to rationalise it and make excuses but they lack the conviction to make such a statement. If it was Warbirds under threat they would expect the same thing and if it was'nt for the talent of people like Hitech, Killer, Pyro etc there would not be any Warbirds so they pay to destroy their heritage.

Perhaps HTC could set up an option on the accounts page to subtract a second months subscription and put it into a fund to pay legal fee's? I would pay this gladly.

Perhaps it's time to make this lawsuit known to the wider sim audience, to as many forums and newsgroups so that people know just who they are giving their money to when they subscribe to an iEN product.

[Mickey1992]

The original forum link has apparently been removed from targetware.net.

[Mini D]

Don't read too much into that...  Targetware changed their BBS software and didn't recover the old messages when they did it.

MiniD

[Mickey1992]

Gotcha.  I thought it was a new post and it suddenly disappeared.

[WestyAH]

I tend to agree with you Revvin. The news is out there already and beginning to spread and IMO the best thing for us players to do is nothing dramatic.  I think we should simply promote AH for the game and HTC's merits  I would recommend compassion for those who choose to make that moral decision. We should welcome, make them feel at home and bend ove rbackwards to help them. (Unless it's Cabby or Kekule )

 However many of them have no where to go being PC challenged and all. For those handicapped by thier ill advised Macintosh gaming rig purchase it's WB III or WWIIO.  Which, IMO, means WBIII or nothing.

 As for me. If HTC or one of thier close friends (LoneWolf, Sharkbait or NoBaddy? ) set up a fund for legal assistance donations I'd contribute.

[Revvin]

Perhaps you're right Westy. I've tried not to post on this but followed the thread over the weekend but now it's been confirmed by Hitech perhaps emotions got the better of me. I've been a player of Warbirds for years and a player of Aces High for some time (although not as long as most here and perhaps not as frequent) It really feels like Wild Bill is going to tear up the history of Warbirds. Regardless of players loyalty to one sim or another Wild Bill cares little for the communities around his own sim or another as he pursues a quick buck. I got out of that sim just in time it seems.

[Kekule]

Hey thanks Westy!

If HT ever decides to model a Ki-43 (and if it isn't perked), then I will hunt you down and ping away at your plane until no more paint can be seen.

You make it seem as if I hate Aces High. I don't, but as an IJ and early war fan there isn't alot here for me that I can't find elsewhere.  I do love the Ki-43 and Ki-84, what can I say?!  Plus there's a tiny handful of players here that pretty much ruined my anticipation for AH way back when it was open beta. On the other hand, my favorite ex-squaddie nopoop is here so who knows...

As for WildBillGates, the last nail is currently being pounded in his own coffin.

I only hope T:R actually exists sometime in the near future.



Kekule
18th Sentai

[joeblogs]

http://www.phil.frb.org/files/br/brq101bh.pdf

And you can patent code in Europe if you satisfy the technical effect standard.  

Originally posted by Dowding
You can't patent a computer program. Copyright yes, but not patent. They are talking about changing that, but at the moment a computer program cannot be patented, and neither can the concepts used to create it.

[jconradh]

post in poor judgement.... corrected


Jeff

[WestyAH]

"You make it seem as if I hate Aces High"

 Nah. Just yanking your chain. Which is why the smiley is next to your handle and not Cabby's    It used to be easier but in the last year most of those who'd been game for some ribbing have eithger come to AH or left WB's for other pastures.

 I will be the first to admit though that you can sound like the Iraqi Disinformation Minister when you post in AGW about what AH is and isn't, as well as AH not having a KI-43.  

[WhiteHawk]

Originally posted by AKWabbit
place.

With no disrespect intended towards HT, if you’re willing to pay a lawyer, you can get almost ANYTHING patented.  Now whether the patent is actually defendable in a court challenge is a whole ‘nother ballgame.  



Wab

I dunno wabbit.  Try buttin heads w the oil company, who, by the way, owns the office that owns the office that owns the patent office.