Twelve videogame makers face litigation over a 1988 patent said to cover the three-dimensional graphics display techniques used in their games.
Law firm McKool Smith has filed suit against Electronic Arts, Activision, Take Two, Ubisoft, Atari, THQ, Vivendi Universal, Sega, Square Enix, Tecmo, LucasArts, and Namco. The firm is also said to have threatened similar litigation against a number of smaller companies on the same grounds.
The patent covers what videogame trade publications describe as a system for moving around an object in three-dimensional space and projecting the results on a two-dimensional plane, which also involves storing the 3D representations.
"If McKool Smith can enforce this patent against the videogames industry (and presumably against most other firms who manufacture 3D graphics tools and applications)," said GamesIndustry.biz, "the implications would be immense, as almost every 3D game ever created would require a license for the patent." And, in theory, it could also affect 3D display for non-game environments like Internet content, Adult and otherwise, if McKool Smith can prove its enforceability.
But GamesIndustry.biz also suggested a prior art claim might apply, because numerous games and other applications made before 1987, the year the patent was first filed, let players pan 3D space in the way the patent describes.
The McKool Smith filing reportedly included nothing about damages sought or specific further actions regarding the patent.
McKool Smith attorney Adam Hoyt was unavailable for comment before this story went to press.
