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*bursts out laughing* Heheh gotta love the US. I''m counting the days to when the EU realises just what a threat to human society the US Patent office is, and automatically voids any patent granted by that office.
This is from 1997 anyway, long time ago.
People might not remember what you said, or what you did, but they will always remember how you made them feel. ~ (V)^|) |<é!t|-| ~
It's only funny 'till someone gets hurt.And then it's just hilarious.Unless it's you.
It reminds me of the firm which had finished decoding the human genom. They tried to patent it!! So if they had succeeded, every time someone have a child, they could have been tried for illegal copy. Unless you consider children as backups...
Edited by - DungeonMaster on September 22, 2000 10:13:27 AM
------------------"Between the time when the oceans drank Atlantis and the rise of the sons of Arius there was an age undreamed of..."
I don''t know about patent laws in any specific country, but generally countries agree that if a patent was issued in one country that same person has the right to patent in a different country.
Ingenu, Your market would be limited to countries that don''t observe patents of other countries. You couldn''t legally sell in any of those countries that the patent holder chose to enforce in. I guess it depends on the international appeal of your product if this is important or not.
How come it sounds like this person is trying to patent the "Make your own adventure" type books? You know the ones that tell you turn to page this if you choose this or that. Those books presented substories at different times (pages) and claimed reusability since each time you read it there could be a different story, even through the re-use of some of the same parts of the story. You could translate that book simply into a matrix/network of choices if you mapped out the book.
What about old text based video games/muds? They had choices that allowed you to complete quests and substories and they were programs. If it made a random or time based choice, than it was dynamic.
Both, "Make your own adventure" books and MUDS, seem to cover prior art. Maybe the MUD is more important since it is a program, which the patent specifically states. I can''t think of an actual MUD that did this, but someone out there should be able to. MUDs definitely pre-date Sept 1994, which is the patent''s application date.
Anyone know of a specific game that did this? And an example of what it did?
Based on the general way he describes it, you could say that every story ever written was based on this formula. Think about it.. before computers it was impossible to do it dynamically, but you have someone sitting and saying. "Okay, there's a guy, and he's a cowboy.. he decides to go do this..and that...and these things result in this." If the author had changed the this and that you'd get something completely different, and thus, in reality, this abstract definition that was given for the patent really defines every book ever written, and thus any type of "story" ever written that was based on "Fact". Don't you agree?
Edited by - Xelius on September 22, 2000 6:29:58 PM
Deary me, you guys certainly get upset without foundation. First, I''d suggest you read the patent before you start making plans for dark and bloody revenge. The patent does not cover RPGs, make your own adventure books, or adventure games. It is very specific about patenting a particular, rather complicated set of ideas that work together to permit interactive storytelling. Some of you have observed that this set of ideas is worthless anyhow, so why bother getting mad? I believe that the ideas are valuable, and that someday this patent will actually earn me some money. So far that''s not the case.
As for enforcement and the little guy, I have already granted two licenses to little guys, both for extremely small amounts of money. Really, really, really small amounts of money.
I realize that some of you are opposed to the very notion of patents, and I won''t argue that with you. If I hadn''t patented it, you can be damn sure that some big company will, and then we''d all be screwed.
