Microsoft sued because of xbox live! :p

nowandtheworld · 04:49 PM

A case against Microsoft was filed on the 12th of September, after the Prosecution company Paltalk discovered that Microsoft broke one their patents they filed in 1998 with the use of their Xbox Live service.
I took the time out to read the whole case in an attempt to understand what had actually gone on. Before attempting to do so yourselves, I do warn you that there is a lot of legal jargon in there. But I managed to discover the patent that Microsoft breached was patent 5,822,523, or, as it will be known in the case, “the 523 patent”. The patent states:

Quote:

Multiplayer games conducted over Wide Area Networks generally involve difficult technical issues because of the requirement that all players have the same view of the game environment in real time. Paltalks technology provides for efficient handling of communications between players necessary to maintain a consistent game environment for all players. Paltalk’s technology covers a number of aspects of online gaming, including communications through a group message server as well as establishing groups for online game play.

MS therefore break the patent because they pay nothing to Paltalk for use of the technology with their Xbox Live service, which stretches right across the world. And a quick word of warning to anyone in the UK, since Paltalk have one registered there too. It seems like Paltalk, who run an Instant Messaging service similar to that of Microsoft’s own MSN, are doing this to simply boost their reputation. Live has been up for four years in November. Could they not have pointed it out to Microsoft at the time, before it got huge? Or did they simply “forget” that they had filed the patent until now?
So what will Microsoft do? If they follow Sony, who got sued for their vibrating technology that they stole, and who have since announced no vibration for the PS3, Microsoft will simply take down Xbox Live. However, I doubt they will follow Sony, and will simply pay vast sums of money to Paltalk.

It will be interesting to see what exactly MS will do. If they pay up, MS will have to continue paying royalties to Paltalk for Xbox Live, so will this push the subscription service price up? Who knows, we can only speculate at this stage, but we at Xboxic will be keeping an eye on it, and will let you know.

made me laugh. heres a full link to the article.
http://www.xboxic.com/news/1623

Z · 09-15-2006

i edited the post so its easier to read.

and yea its interesting, wonder how they'll resolve this

Final · 09-15-2006

I bet it'd be Bullshit like the company that tried to Sue for some codec MS uses for the 360, XBL has been for years, why now they want to sue?

nowandtheworld · 09-15-2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Z

i edited the post so its easier to read.

and yea its interesting, wonder how they'll resolve this

Aight thanks Z

SadistiK Mother · 09-15-2006

Live is to big of a money maker for MS, they won't ditch it. But it doesn't look good.

Nexus is Mental · 09-15-2006

I cant see MS dropping the XBL service, its the biggest selling part of the Xbox, its what defines the console IMO.

They probably just payout to that company, its not like they cant afford it

SheiK · 09-15-2006

Huh...yeah it seems like bullshit (like Spyder said.)

Probably overlooked?

Agent 0072 · 09-15-2006

That is acually pretty gay for something from 1998... And I would totally stop respecting MS alltogether if they dropped XBL, alot of the games for the 360 are only good because of Live, they would lose more then they make for dropping it. And yeah they can afford it, thats fucking pocket money for Bill Gates.

nowandtheworld · 09-15-2006

yeh there was something in there that mentioned "why" they might have done it.

Quote:

It seems like Paltalk, who run an Instant Messaging service similar to that of Microsoft’s own MSN, are doing this to simply boost their reputation. Live has been up for four years in November. Could they not have pointed it out to Microsoft at the time, before it got huge? Or did they simply “forget” that they had filed the patent until now?