they were for trolling...
also, I was under the impression that patents apply in europe - I once worked for a swedish company that had a really hard time due to a dutch patent troll who claimed ownership of their IP via broad and vague patents, soon after the company raised VC money...
Patents do - Software patents don't. However, if you want to sell your stuff in the US, you must obey the rules there, and the US is a pretty big marked.
I thought there were some reasonable limits to how long you could wait to try to enforce your patents specifically to prevent the most egregious submariners.
1) Obtain a vague patent from a failed startup. 2) Wait for Blizzard (and multiplayer 3d games in general) to get reee-heeheehee-ly big, 3) Profit, should not be a legitimate business model.
On the bright side, these losers have probably missed the boat on making a quick buck through regular old patent extortion. Now that they are challenging an entire industry, they are bound to face considerable (and well funded) resistance. (They've probably SCOed themselves)
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[ 3.8 ms ] story [ 28.0 ms ] threadinnovation protection?
yeah, right.
I really hope software patents are not introduced in Europe.
1) Obtain a vague patent from a failed startup. 2) Wait for Blizzard (and multiplayer 3d games in general) to get reee-heeheehee-ly big, 3) Profit, should not be a legitimate business model.
On the bright side, these losers have probably missed the boat on making a quick buck through regular old patent extortion. Now that they are challenging an entire industry, they are bound to face considerable (and well funded) resistance. (They've probably SCOed themselves)