No. Or, Why I Don't Love Copyright.

This is being reported everywhere, but I cling to the idea that to someone, I am the entire Internet. It's not writing-related, but it is IP related, which means I feel obliged to report on it:

Worlds.com sues NCSoft for patent infringement. The description of the patent? The foundational architecture of MMORPGs.

I'm not kidding. Really. Take a minute to read that link.

I don't have the time or resources to research how spurious Worlds.com's claim might be; based on the information I've seen, which given my sources could be a little under-researched, leads me to three basic conclusions:

#1: It could be economically and stylistically devastating for Worlds.com to win this suit;

#2: Whoever gave Worlds.com this patent is either outmoded or an idiot; and

#3: This is one of the best cases I have recently seen for a reform of IP law.

The reasons for #1 have been explored in every article I've linked, so I'll just summarize: If their patent is deemed legitimate, they have the capacity to sue the pants off of every gaming company that has ever helmed a standard-variety MMORPG. The damages those companies would have to pay could be apocalyptically high--and gaming is one of a handful of industries whose profits swell during economic troubles, from my understanding, so this is a blow I do not want to see dealt. I realize that it is unlikely the suit will drive anyone out of business if it passes, but I think that the economic situation in the world is fragile enough without payouts for this lawsuit being added to the heap of losses companies are incurring.

I do not recall seeing a date on the patent they are referencing--there is a chance it is old enough that it is legitimate, that someone working under their auspices was the first to develop the technology that is now the central system by which the bulk of MMORPGs operate. If not, then Worlds.com are weasels for having staged this farce; if so, then they are weasels for having, rather blatantly, bided their time to sue. MMORPGs have been running on the supposedly-patented architecture they describe since, to the best of my knowledge, 1997, if not earlier, which means that either Worlds.com did not keep track of a patent that someone there had to have known described an industry- and world-changing technology, or they waited until a company had enough money that they considered a suit worthwhile.

If this is not a result of corporate greed, than it is a result of a system for civil suits that rewards this sort of behavior, and of a patenting system that allows for these kinds of corporate-friendly predations. A single person holding that patent could not, under most circumstances, hope to win a suit against a company like NCSoft; Worlds.com, though, stands what I would consider a fighting chance. And if they do win, as stated, it stands to put at risk the livelihoods of a community of creators that I hold in rather great respect.

If this whole thing doesn't seem insane enough to you, please consider what Massively has to say on the subject of software design and patents: that under the current system, proof of prior art does nothing to defend a person against claims of infringement (translation: it barely matters when Worlds.com's patent was registered); and that software companies often "discourage their employees from consulting the patent system. If they infringe accidentally, the financial risks are far lower -- and it is pretty much impossible to write any software without infringing on multiple patents." [link] Does that sound like a functioning and healthy patent system to you?

I could rant on this subject for a long time, and in the process expose my ignorance; the truth is that I have no good answer, that I am simply angry and want to see a system that protects the creator without all the strange hoop-jumping the current system requires. This is just the latest, most farcical, example.

It's possible that this is me blowing all this out of proportion; that I'm overreacting to a corporation trying to stake a wholly veracious claim. But given that they filed this suit at Christmas, which I find hard to interpret as a desperate defense of an infringed patent, I am inclined to be less than charitable. As it stands, I await the possibility that further data will exonerate Worlds.com, and that this lawsuit will disappear in a puff of air; but for the moment, I maintain that Worlds.com's higher-ups should really just be ashamed of themselves.