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Mojang, makers of Minecraft, sued by patent troll

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Re: Mojang, makers of Minecraft, sued by patent troll

#31

Post by jahewson »

tinco wrote: post #11

I have a question about this. Can you be sued from Texas if you sell your software in any state _but_ Texas? So if I add a clause to my EULA that the product can not be bought or used in the state of Texas, would that force patent trolls to sue in a different state? edit: This wiki.answers page seems to say that could work http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Can_someone_sue_another_person_if_...

You might also be expected to take some measures to enforce this, such as a State drop-down box, with an "I agree" EULA/ToS.

Re: Mojang, makers of Minecraft, sued by patent troll

#33

Post by jahewson »

rwmj wrote: post #24
ricardobeat wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you prevent sales in the US if it's only sold online? They can't order blocking using geolocation since the company is in Sweden... now I'm curious.

[I'm not saying any of this is right, just pointing out how it's done] (1) You go after the companies collecting the money (Visa etc) and delivering the app (Google, Apple). These very much have physical offices and principals in the US. (2) You arrest people who dare to fly through/over/near the US. See: legal UK gambling companies. (3) You attempt to extradite anyone not caught by (1) or (2), if necessary pushing f…

In response...

1) Yes, also I guess they could order ISPs to block the website, but I don't know if there is any precedent for this.

2) No, patent infringement is not a crime

3) No, patent infringement is not a fellony (or crime).

If there was a Default Judgement against them then violating it may be a contempt of court, which may be a crime - anyone know if that's the case?

Edit: Wikipedia says "Contempt of court in a civil suit is generally not considered to be a criminal offense".

Re: Mojang, makers of Minecraft, sued by patent troll

#34

Post by Natsu »

tinco wrote: post #11

I have a question about this. Can you be sued from Texas if you sell your software in any state _but_ Texas? So if I add a clause to my EULA that the product can not be bought or used in the state of Texas, would that force patent trolls to sue in a different state? edit: This wiki.answers page seems to say that could work http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Can_someone_sue_another_person_if_...

Patent lawsuits are filed in federal court. There are jurisdiction rules, and even recent attempts to curtail the practice of forum shopping, but now that many patent trolls make their home in Marshall, Texas, it's rather difficult to avoid that forum. They will more or less say that due to the fact that the troll has set up shop in Texas, any other jurisdiction is as good as here, so you're stuck with Texas.

In short, the trolls do everything they can to make you fight them in their home court. Enough so that it makes the news whenever people find a new legal trick to escape. Many such tricks have failed. One example that springs to mind is that one troll who filed a day earlier than anyone else would be able to, because they used tricky local rules to get a cover sheet while technically filing just after midnight. But because they were first, they got to choose to stay in Marshall, TX.

Re: Mojang, makers of Minecraft, sued by patent troll

#36

Post by huhtenberg »

rwmj wrote: post #20
atirip wrote: post #18

This is hilarious. Mojang is on not subject of US laws, US software patents can not be enforced either. So Mojng can totally ignore that case.

Dangerous ... A default judgement could prevent them from selling Minecraft in the US, and could implicate other companies helping them who are based in the US (ie. Google & Appple because their stores are presumably located there).

> selling Minecraft in the US

This I don't understand. Mojang sells Minecraft in Sweden. You come to them, not the other way around (unless they have a US-based webshop).

A person from the US can fly to Sweden and buy a bottle of Absolute Absinthe (made-up) and then bring it back to the US. She may not succeed getting it through the customs, but it will be the US customs who enforce the import restriction, not the Swedish liquor store. Similarly, Mojang is a liquor store, Minecraft is a bottle. Why should Mojang be enforcing US e-com restrictions? This doesn't make any sense.

Re: Mojang, makers of Minecraft, sued by patent troll

#37

Post by rbanffy »

ricardobeat wrote: post #22
rwmj wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dangerous ... A default judgement could prevent them from selling Minecraft in the US, and could implicate other companies helping them who are based in the US (ie. Google & Appple because their stores are presumably located there).

How do you prevent sales in the US if it's only sold online? They can't order blocking using geolocation since the company is in Sweden... now I'm curious.

> How do you prevent sales in the US if it's only sold online?

Just preventing sales from customers in the US app store would be a lot of damage. Google and Apple already have different products available according to country of origin. Billing addresses can also be easily checked.

Re: Mojang, makers of Minecraft, sued by patent troll

#39

Post by aristidb »

Kerrick wrote: post #25
foz wrote: post #17

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PREVENTING UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO ELECTRONIC DATA. When are governments finally going to do something about the patent system?

When are people going to start reading more than just patent titles? This specific system and method involve using a card inserted into a computing device paired with a server over a network for authentication. It goes deeper than just the title.

When patents are readable. That is, never.
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