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 Forum index » Meta » General META Discussion
Patenting ARG
Moderators: imbri, ndemeter
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addlepated
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Joined: 17 Aug 2003
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Location: Austin, Texas

 		If Majestic had applied for a patent for the software they used for making phone calls and chatting with people online, it would also have been called "cross-media storytelling". I really think that the hue and cry raised in this thread is counter-productive until we honestly know what's going on.
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:31 pm
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Mokey Fraggle
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Joined: 16 Sep 2005
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imbri wrote:
I also think that we need to keep our occasional propensity for a mob mentality in check. We need to look at this honestly and without spreading rumors, suspicisions, and half-truths. Those will only obstruct what we all really want to know - just how will this effect us, if at all. Once we understand that, we can move forward with confidence and understanding. Until then, we're just getting ourselves in all worked up with nowhere to get rid of the energy.


Absolutely! I do not see the point in boycotting and spreading rumors about a game without giving the PMs a chance to respond. For all we know, they have a very legitimate claim to a very harmless patent. In that case, I think we would all feel guilty for having slammed them without better information. I'm glad we're asking for clarification.

Of course, they could write back and say, "Screw you, and your little ARGs, too! *cackle*" In that case, we can all safely go back to bickering and boycotting. Wink

PostPosted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:36 pm
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Ciaran_H
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 		imbri: Thanks for the reality check. You're right, it was an emotionally-driven email, and I should have thought about it more than I did. My apologies. The silly thing is that, among other things, I knew that The Beast wasn't the earliest example, and I meant to try and word it as such in my letter. Unfortunately, I slipped up and *did* say it was the earliest example. My bad.

I also hadn't thought about the specific wording they used for the patent announcement. I shouldn't have been so quick to assume.

Next time I write an emotionally-driven letter, I'll post it here for everybody to look at. Heck, that's what I'd do in an ARG if I was emailing an important letter which might affect the game, so I should really do that with real letters too. Wink

PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 12:03 am
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Ciaran_H
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 		Out of curiosity, I tried doing some patent searching. Searching for "Tyler, Christopher" as the inventor on the USPTO site only turns up three matches, none of which I assume are relevant to this. Using "Chris" instead doesn't match anything.

Looking for other relevant keywords and date ranges, etc, don't turn up anything so far as I can see.

PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 12:20 am
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ScarpeGrosse
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 		If you look at the public databases available for searching on the USPTO site, you'll find that you can get issued patents from 2005. Since this, according to the very small, very inconclusive, press release blurb, is a patent application, you'll need to check the other database, which is current (according to the site) through Feb 2006.

Searching there brings up one application, though I don't know how relevant it is, as the applicant is Christopher Tyler Young.
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 2:48 am
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SirQuady
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 		Ok, thanks all, for the bucket of cold water/reality check. I guess i agree, waiting unitl we have more solid info would be better. Sorry for any unintentional rabble-rousing on my part.

Best case would be to get our hands on a copy of the acctual application, but i have no idea how we would do that.
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 8:04 pm
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MageSteff
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SirQuady wrote:
Ok, thanks all, for the bucket of cold water/reality check. I guess i agree, waiting unitl we have more solid info would be better. Sorry for any unintentional rabble-rousing on my part.

Best case would be to get our hands on a copy of the acctual application, but i have no idea how we would do that.


OH the information is valuable - if only to make certain we are watching that the "concept" of an ARG being a cross-platform mixed media event becoming the owned province of one company.

That being said, I prefer passionate discussion over name calling attacks.
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 9:50 pm
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cabalagent23
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Joined: 25 Sep 2002
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 		A Similar Case to Learn From
For anyone who thought that the ARG / cross media patent issue wasn't something to worry about, check out this recent development in a very similar case, and then think again.

Link to Cnet here

EDIT - embedded URL to de-wide-ify the forums - SG
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 5:10 pm
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imbriModerator
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Joined: 21 Sep 2002
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MageSteff wrote:
That being said, I prefer passionate discussion over name calling attacks.


Not sure if this is in reference to me or not. But I'd tend to agree with you. It's far preferable to have passionate discussions in order to get facts than it is to boycott games and hunt down people's personal information based off assumptions. Rumors and half-truths tend to hurt peoples reputations unfairly and, frankly, I think we're a smart enough group to get the whole truth and I commend Ciaran for taking the initiative to try and get it.

I was not meaning to stop passionate disscussion, I just wanted to suggest that we direct it in a more productive manner Smile


cabalagent23 wrote:
For anyone who thought that the ARG / cross media patent issue wasn't something to worry about, check out this recent development in a very similar case, and then think again.


How do we know this is a very similar case... we don't even know what patents this guy has applied for. A number of us have spent a lot of time searching through the applications and haven't been able to find any evidence of his patents. For all I know, he just threw that into the press release to make the company sound bigger & better. The amount of time we're spending looking into getting facts shows that we're concerned. We just want to get the facts before jumping to major conclusions... "OMG! This guy is patenting all of ARG! The Bastard! Boycott everything he does!" Furthermore, even the article points out that the company would likely have problems enforcing the patent due to prior-art.


So, to sum up...

Watching = good
Discussing = good
Witchhunt = bad

PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 7:10 pm
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joebrent
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MageSteff wrote:
That being said, I prefer passionate discussion over name calling attacks.


Poopypants.
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 4:09 am
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SirQuady
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 		Waaaait, calling someone poopypants is name calling! Very Happy Wink
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 24, 2006 4:26 pm
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MageSteff
Pretty talky there aintcha, Talky?


Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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joebrent wrote:
MageSteff wrote:
That being said, I prefer passionate discussion over name calling attacks.


Poopypants.



I still love ya, ya big lug. BTW Clare Muldaur-Manchon sent me an e-mail that says "Joe Brent rocks!!!"

Razz
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Magesteff
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 10:06 am
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Mokey Fraggle
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 		Has anyone heard back from Riddle re: this patent thing? I wrote them, as well, and haven't heard a word. Confused

PostPosted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 2:22 pm
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Ciaran_H
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Joined: 11 Nov 2004
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 		Sorry I hadn't replied.

I haven't received any reply from infoSPLATstrangeradventures.com . I got a bounce message from joshSPLATfotoge.net , but it would stilll have gone to the first address.

Maybe we should modify the email and send it to a different address?

PostPosted: Tue Feb 28, 2006 3:37 am
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FLmutant
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Joined: 29 Oct 2004
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Location: Orlando, FL

 		Re: A Similar Case to Learn From
cabalagent23 wrote:
For anyone who thought that the ARG / cross media patent issue wasn't something to worry about, check out this recent development in a very similar case, and then think again.

Link to Cnet here



I'm been tracking that patent, but I think the new coverage might be overly alarming. If you actually read the patent here it is primarily for an online service ('via the Internet') for creating multimedia applications. So it's not quite a horrible as "we own rich media".

In the meantime, though, on the ARG patent, it is certainly worth watching to see how it develops, and to provide guidence on "prior art" if it seems like it is appropriate. Right now, with no eye on the actual application (if there is an actual application) there's not much to organize about ...

... yet.

PostPosted: Tue Feb 28, 2006 2:25 pm
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