[casual_games] Gameplay patents

[Kirby, Neil A (Neil)]

>Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2007 10:49:42 -0800

>From: "Milt Michael" <miltmich at telus.net>

>Subject: Re: [casual_games] Gameplay patents

>To: "'IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List'" <casual_games at igda.org>

>Message-ID: <006801c74c7b$0f912f90$6400a8c0 at MAIN>

>Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="iso-8859-1"

>

>Although I'm no expert on patents, I am going forward with a patent

>application for my game because I feel it contains new processes and

>formulas that improve gameplay.

>

>I'd sure like to hear from others who have gone down this road though!

>

>Milt


I have.  My employer gets first shot at every patentable idea I come up with.  So far it has been a case of two near-misses and one go-ahead-on-your-own.  The two near misses were from prior art (if you don't know what the term means, you need to learn more).  The Labs researched the inventions.  We found in one case that we already had a patent that covered what I had come up with.  In another case we found in the literature a paper showing others with similar work predating mine.  

Have you done searches to see if you idea is already out there in the wild?  There are a lot of bright people out there, and they patent some stuff and write about lots more.  It's up to you to search out the prior art to keep from wasting money trying to patent something that has already been invented by others.

In my case, those searches were done by an on-staff, on-site IP lawyer (those were the days!).  He had nothing better to do than to get as many patents for our inventions as they were worthy of.  That may sound over-the-top, but I do work for the place that invented the transistor.  

In your case, you need to duplicate that kind of effort to search out prior art.  That's not cheap, but it is a lot easier than it used to be.  Patents cost thousands of dollars to get, and this is one of the reasons why.  If you do not have thousands of dollars to spend, stop now.  This is what stops me from patenting my non-work-related invention.  I have permission to patent it on my own, but not the few thousand bucks burning a hole in my pocket.  I am very tempted still, just so that I can end my bio with, "He holds one US patent."  If you get it, frame the letter you get from the US Patent office and hang it on your wall.  That's what we do, and they look very cool.  I don't know if the guys with Nobel prizes do anything like that, I haven't seen any of their offices.

Once you get it, you might want to defend it.  Software patents get a very bad rap.  Google "Rob Pike Patent" to get a flavor of how much people hate software patents.  The invention in your patent will be publicly disclosed, so anyone can copy it - but it's up to them to remember to contact you for licensing terms.  It's up to you to send them a cease-and-desist letter demanding negotiation of terms.  It's up to you to sue them for damages when they ignore you.  It's up to you to survive counter-suit if they happen to have a large library of patents that they think your software might run afoul of.  None of these activities are particularly cheap.

You don't have to defend it.  You can let the world use it, with the letter on the wall being reward enough.  You can put on your website that as long as your name gets put on the credits page, they don't have to pay you.  

If you have the money, and the burning good idea, it's your call.  I don't think it is cost-effective for a casual game developer, but I don't walk in your shoes.  On the other hand, I do have a shirt that has Bell Labs on the front and "A patent per day, a Nobel per decade" on the back that I sometimes wear at GDC.  (Brian and others who know me may recall seeing it).


---
Neil Kirby              +1.614.367.5524        Hope is not a strategy
Bell Laboratories     nak at alcatel-lucent.com   Prayer is not a process
6100 E. Broad St.                              Tuning is not a plan
Columbus, OH 43213      USA                    Chaos does not scale