Priceline Founder Targets Video Game Industry With Patent Suits

Priceline.com founder Jay Walker is targeting video game developers and publishers, including Activision, EA, Microsoft and others, in numerous patent suits over multiplayer tournament and in-game credit technology. Gamasutra first reported on Walker's suits against Activision and Zynga back in January, but his Walker Digital Management firm has filed significantly more suits in subsequent months, with infringement suits now filed against over 100 companies according to a report form Lexology, with a particular emphasis on the video game industry. The suits are mainly centered around three U.S. patents held by the company: patent 6,425,828, which deals with tournament play, 6,224,486, which is closely related, and 6,527,638, which relates to gaming credits in lieu of a financial transaction. The suits involving the former two patents -- filed against Activision, Blizzard, Zynga, Electronic Arts, Microsoft, Rockstar and Ubisoft -- claim that the defendants used its patented technology to "exchange information with a central computer to influence game play, and also store certain information that is available for use in subsequent tournament play." As the Lexology report warns, these suits could have an impact on the many other companies that store player data for use in multiple tournaments. The suits involving the latter credit-based patent were filed against Cryptic, Electronic Arts and Zynga in May. Like in the prior suits, the claims in these cases are also broad, and can likely be applied to many other companies. According to Luxology, the validity and scope of these patents may be challenged with the presentation of prior art: in other words, games and systems that used similar technology before Walker's patents were filed. Nevertheless, Lexology's authors warns that game companies should monitor these suits closely, and "consider proactive measures such as Declaratory Judgment actions, to preempt the next wave of lawsuits."