It was recently confirmed that Activision Blizzard is liable for patent infringement. In a case that has been boiling for almost a decade, a ‘tech incubator’ named Acceleration Bay accused AB of infringing on copyrights concerning networking and communications patents. That claim was founded in 2015, and it’s only just coming to fruition, with a jury ordering AB to pay a whopping $23.4 million in damages.
Acceleration Bay argued that two patents were being infringed upon by Activision Blizzard in both World of Warcraft and Call of Duty. Put simply, the patents were related to the ‘simultaneous sharing of information between widely distributed computers’. The technical specification eludes me, and perhaps that’s why it took so long to settle the case. Activision Blizzard slammed the suit, stating that damages shouldn’t exceed $300,000, but the final verdict verdict far exceeds that estimation.
Costly Infringement
As the nine-year-long suit was settled, it was found that Activision Blizzard owed Acceleration Bay a shocking sum of money. More than a decade ago, Acceleration Bay accused Activision of using copyrighted technology in World of Warcraft and Call of Duty. The split is apparent in the ordered reparations, too. World of Warcraft has brought about an $18 million bill for AB, while Call of Duty’s portion is worth just $5.4 million.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Activision Blizzard spoke sourly of the verdict:
‘While we are disappointed, we believe there is a strong basis for appeal. We have never used the patented technologies at issue in our games.’
However, employees at Acceleration Bay are reportedly ‘delighted’ with the verdict, as one could expect. Bizarrely, that’s not the end of the tale where Acceleration Bay is concerned. It was later revealed that the firm also has open infringement suits filed against the likes of Electronic Arts, Take-Two Interactive, and even Amazon. If those cases go the same way as this one, Acceleration Bay could net a fortune.
Unfortunately, if the precedent set by the Activision Blizzard case is anything to go by, it’ll be years before all is said and done.
Recently, Activision Blizzard was the target of a landmark lawsuit worth $680 million. It was filed by OpTic Gaming and was designed to target the Call of Duty League, but it was quickly thrown out by the court. Later though, changes were made to the Call of Duty League operating system that reflected some of the complaints that surfaced in the lawsuit.
For more gaming news, Esports.net
You must be logged in to post a comment Login