Project Lore

Silicon Alley Insider is reporting today that Worlds.com CEO Thom Kidrin claims that the idea of scalable virtual worlds with thousands of users is his company's intellectual property, and that Worlds will sue anyone who refuses to license the idea.  Worlds currently has a lawsuit against NCSoft, publisher of such games as City of Heroes/Villains, Guild Wars, and Lineage II. Should litigation against NCSoft succeed, Kidrin 'absolutely' plans on moving on to sue MMO industry leaders such as World of Warcraft and Second Life. The patents originally were developed by the Starlight Starbright Foundation, a charity dedicated to improving the quality of life for seriously ill children.  They had the idea of creating Starbright World, a virtual world for the enjoyment of children who may not have been able to interact or explore due to illness. The patents cover an architecture for enabling thousands of users in a 3D space, and Worlds.com now owns the rights to those patents. Of course, I am no lawyer, but the idea of thousands of users in a 3D space sounds like just about every MMO out there right now, save those that linger in two dimensions. Should the courts rule in Worlds.com's favor, it will make such games more expensive due to licensing fees, which may translate into higher costs for you and me.  We'll have to wait this one out and see how things go in the NCSoft case. Check out Silicon Alley Insider for more details.

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