Gameplay patents are bullshit.
All Gameplay patents are bullshit. Artificial barriers to entry that only restrict market forces in favor of screwing end consumers.
there can be a very good case made for putting private innovation into the public realm after a period of legal protections, (typically 20 years for most places)
but anything that is public by it’s very nature should never be subject to patents
Even for those 20 years it can be incredibly suffocating in fast moving industries like IT. Just look at e.g. the way video codecs got mutilated by patents.
This shit is somewhat agreeable now, because Pal World is so similar, but once this door is opened, it’s never going to let developers have the freedom to invent and innovate, because crusty old bullies want to use the legal system to punish anyone that dares resemble 2-3 decade old game mechanics.
Should platformer games pay royalties to Nintendo for having the first character to jump twice it’s height?
Video game companies rent seeking for “game mechanics patents” on old shit is just ironically anti fun.
I don’t think that you can patent game mechanics in the US, have read about that before, but it sounds like this lawsuit is in Japan, and their IP system may not work the same way.
EDIT: Sorry, I’m wrong. It’s that game rules aren’t covered by copyright, that’s what I was remembering.
It’s also creating a patent minefield that stifles any game development by people who can’t afford the lawyers necessary to navigate it.
Damn it Nintendo, you opened the floodgates
Fuck this
¥ 1 billion equals:
- us$ 6.6 million
- € 6.1 million
- au$ 10 million
- £ 5.1 million