07-22-2012, 02:05 PM
Mojang is currently being sued for infringing a vague patent by a company I've never heard of, and apparently so are many other major software companies, including Electronic Arts.
Here's the relevant paragraph of the lawsuit PDF made available by Markus Persson:
Uh, Mindcraft?
And seriously. You can't patent an idea. There are hundreds of different ways (and many legit reasons why you would want) to require communication with a server to perform a license check on an Andriod-based application to prevent the unauthorized use of said application. Hundreds of computer game systems do as such, so unless Mojang stole the exact code directly from Uniloc, there is no way I think this lawsuit can hold up.
To quote chicken_bones, a Minecraft modder whose mod fell under attack for a while by the creator of a similar mod, "Are all cars stolen, is the idea of making a table copied, are all computers ripoffs?"
Here's the relevant paragraph of the lawsuit PDF made available by Markus Persson:
Quote:Mojang is directly infringing one or more claims of the ’067 patent in this judicial district and elsewhere in Texas, including at least claim 107, without the consent or authorization of Uniloc, by or through making, using, offering for sale, selling and/or importing Android based applications for use on cellular phones and/or tablet devices that require communication with a server to perform a license check to prevent the unauthorized use of said application, including, but not limited to, Mindcraft.
Uh, Mindcraft?
And seriously. You can't patent an idea. There are hundreds of different ways (and many legit reasons why you would want) to require communication with a server to perform a license check on an Andriod-based application to prevent the unauthorized use of said application. Hundreds of computer game systems do as such, so unless Mojang stole the exact code directly from Uniloc, there is no way I think this lawsuit can hold up.
To quote chicken_bones, a Minecraft modder whose mod fell under attack for a while by the creator of a similar mod, "Are all cars stolen, is the idea of making a table copied, are all computers ripoffs?"