Jeremy,
<div><br /> I have not read patent 7181690 and am not a patent attorney, however, there may be some prior art for the first claim. Maybe the patent examiner(s) missed prior art or the authors missed prior art. Should you find either, you can easily use Rule 501 and do a "passive citation" against the patent for free. You can do this as yourself or someone else can do it anonymously for you by either sending copies to the USPTO and the patent holder (patentee) *or* by alternatively sending two copies to the USPTO. </div>
<div><br /> Better would be to use Rule 510 or Rule 902 and get a reexamination of the patent, which is a stronger strategy but likely requires some funds for a patent attorney to make the strongest possible case. Rule 510 is for one person/entity requesting examination (ex parte = one party) and Rule 902 (inter partes = two or more parties). </div>
<div><br /> If I were you and really focused on this, I'd place some time bets and take a quick peek at what my pals at Chaco Communications (1994-1996) did with their "Pueblo" client/server, and in particular their early work on the technology. There were some VRML and text-only "MUD"-like implementations there. I remember they customized it for the "Hello Kitty" people in Japan. </div>
<div><br /> I'd also place time bets on 1980s games and look at the multiplayer aspects of the older games, like Peter Langston's "empire". Stuff like xconq, Xtrek, and what happened when X Windows came out. I can't remember accurately if any of the Rogue v3.6 derivatives were multiplayer like that. Were either srogue or urogue multiplayer? </div>
<div><br /> Also, there maybe be some prior art by the US military or its contractors in wargaming simulations or "distributed object" implementations. <br />These ideas might be irrelevant or a starting point. I started reading glass insulator patents when I was 7 or 8 years old. I wouldn't put too much stock into a patent which has been granted but not ever challenged. Until they survive a challenge, I tend to view them as just publications, and that the authors published via the patent system.
<div><br /> If you need general patent orientation, a good starting point is David Pressman's book "Patent It Yourself" on Nolo Press -- $28.99 for download at http://nolo.com
<div><br /> douglas </div>
<div><br /> Chaco :: http://www.chaco.com/company/history/index.html</div>
<div>Pueblo client :: http://download.uni-hd.de/ftp/pub/net/winsock/winsock-l/WindowsNT/Mud/Pblo32.txt</div>
<div>Pueblo client :: http://pueblo.sourceforge.net/pueblo/source.php</div>
<div>MUD/MUSH/MOO :: http://soa.sys-con.com/node/3</div>
<div>Empire :: http://members.chello.at/theodor.lauppert/games/empire.htm</div>
<div>Netrek :: http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~netrek/history/History.html</div>
<div>[…] <br /> <br /> On Sep 22, 2009, <strong>Jeremy Baker</strong> <jellogum@gmail.com> wrote:<br /><br />
<blockquote class="email_quote" style="border-left: 2px solid #267fdb; margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 1.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">I joined this community many years ago to learn about GRID computing when I was studying biology and the Linux file system, with future goals to write interesting open source programs. It's the future and I just hit a wall in the design process of writing code for my study. This problem is related to the boring world of business and IP patents. I like patents, but lately I wonder... <br /> <br />RE: "...Worlds.com filed a lawsuit Dec. 24 against NCSoft in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division, for violating patent 7181690. The patent is described as a method for enabling users to interact in a virtual space through avatars."<br /><br />Online read on patents:<br /><a href="http://www.google.com/patents?id=wv5-AAAAEBAJ&dq=7,181,690" target="_blank">http://www.google.com/patents?id=wv5-AAAAEBAJ&dq=7,181,690</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=BYoGAAAAEBAJ&dq=6,219,045" target="_blank">http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=BYoGAAAAEBAJ&dq=6,219,045</a><br /> <br />Can someone help me to better understand how these patents interact with the open source bazaar method of programing, Linux, the law, GIS systems with meta data that is essentially 3-D access for a user's avatar, etc? I am having flow chart issues that are not flowing... and I am now back to the world of research (patents) when I would rather be writing and compiling software.<br /> <br />-- <br />Jeremy Baker<br />PO 297<br />Johnson, VT<br />05656<br /></blockquote>
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