A new lawsuit states that if you make a game with 3D action (like, say, Quake or Halo) and display it on a 2D monitor, you could be violating a patent.
The patent, number 4,734,690 is owned by one-time printing and graphics specialist Tektronix and covers the display of a 3D image in 2D. It was filed in April, 1987 and granted almost a year later.
US legal firm, Dallas, Texas-based McKool Smith, has been retained to file lawsuits against a large number of major game makers including Electronic Arts, Activision, Take Two, Ubisoft, Atari, THQ, Vivendi Universal, Sega, Square Enix, Tecmo, Lucasarts and Namco. Some smaller firms will also have lawsuits filed against them in the near future.
Theoretically, everything from CAD renderings to 3D vector-based web appliactions to Flash animation and more could fall under the patent infringement. If it's three-dimensional and displayed on a two-dimensional display, it's open ground for this lawsuit.
View: More Information
The patent, number 4,734,690 is owned by one-time printing and graphics specialist Tektronix and covers the display of a 3D image in 2D. It was filed in April, 1987 and granted almost a year later.
US legal firm, Dallas, Texas-based McKool Smith, has been retained to file lawsuits against a large number of major game makers including Electronic Arts, Activision, Take Two, Ubisoft, Atari, THQ, Vivendi Universal, Sega, Square Enix, Tecmo, Lucasarts and Namco. Some smaller firms will also have lawsuits filed against them in the near future.
Theoretically, everything from CAD renderings to 3D vector-based web appliactions to Flash animation and more could fall under the patent infringement. If it's three-dimensional and displayed on a two-dimensional display, it's open ground for this lawsuit.
View: More Information
Please note, this is not the place to discuss whether or not you like the bands mentioned in this article. The article is about CD/DVD Hybrid discs making their way into the public market. Thank you.
Some people
According to the patent itself, "The present invention relates to graphics terminals and particularly to graphics terminals providing the user with the ability to alter the apparent viewing direction of a display derived from locally stored data."
It doesn't apply to projection and/or film.
There are too many huge corporate lawyers backing these game makers to ever have this successfully work out for the lawsuit filer.
It is possible they are trying to sue people like the publishers so that they can get enough money to try and sue Microsoft. It is either that or they are just trying to get some people to settle out of court in order to make some extra cash.
My name is Larry, I have often thought what it would be like to wear a Leisure Suit, and although I do not look anything like a younger Larry from 3's Company TV Show like the character in the game does, I still think I have a damn good chance of winning the suit.
EDIT: Oh and I'll Probably get sued by infiniumlabs after I do that, since it will infringe on something they've designed their super new, soon to be released at the time, console, the Phantom.
Commenting has either been disabled on this article or you are not logged in. Click here to login or register, its free!
Note: Anonymous commenting is disabled in order to keep the quality of responses to a high standard.