The CEO of Worlds.com, Tom Kidrin, has stated that if his court case against NCSoft, the maker of MMOs such as Guild Wars and Tabula Rasa, is successful he will follow it up by suing other MMO developers like World of Warcraft's creators, Blizzard Entertainment.

Kidrin claims that his company, Worlds.com, owns the patent to create virtual worlds, dating back to the 90s. He claims his company came by the patents via Starbright World, part of the Starlight Starbright Foundation. Starbright World is an online world developed for seriously ill children, and is seen as a "private wonderland" for them. The patents somehow ended up with the management of Worlds.com, who were then advised by lawyers from the General Patent Corporation to sue companies for using the architecture for a online world, set out in these patents.

The case against NCSoft is being held in East Texas which, according to Business Insider, is a jurisdiction that is known to have ruled in favour of the plaintiff against foreigners in patent cases once or twice before.

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ergh what....when will these stupid people give up n stop trying to take advantage of a success of a certain game!

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Its not the success of a certain game, its the infringement of a patent. Had I made the first virtual world and put a patent on the concept, I would want to get paid as well.

@darendt

a patent?

I know.....& the patent system is a joke

the patent system may be a joke but without it...it would be chaotic.

@markers

I know...but this is just ridiculous

n yesterday we had someone suing MS for xbox 1 games too

has anyone patented the concept of wearing shoes on your feet yet? cause i think im about to go off and do that. get ready to pay me a lot of money.

i doubt this lawsuit, and the one from yesterday, will go through. most of these are just a company trying to make a quick fortune.

take this one for instance, worlds.com or whatever makes a virtual world for ill kids to go lose themselves in. they patent that. but that patent only holds meaning in other things like second-life, and dare i say home, or something that is similar to it. games such as world of warcraft and final fantasy(xi) can not be touched by this patent because this is a world created by the designers and writers. and besides wouldn't be considered a monopoly to have the patent to the entire virtual world?

Isn't the first digital world decades old, now?

lol

Sure, let's go retarded again. Undoubtedly the patent will more then likely entail "how to build a virtual world" as the idea of a virtual world could never stand up in court. It would be like patenting wearing shoes on your feet, as bubbles mentioned.

Now, because these worlds are created differently we should have no problem.

I also find it curious he goes after NCsoft first. Affraid the better lawyers of Blizzard will cream his ass harsher?