Slashdot notes that IBM was just issued patent #7,447,996 on creating an instant messaging avatar with a gender set by the analyzing the name the user provides. At first glance this is a simple thing but a read of the patent points to a fairly sophisticated system that supports multiple user cultures and languages including Hindu and Chinese. However IBM may have some difficultly defending the core part of this patent as there is prior art in some video games and online sites already albeit with limited name recognition databases.
This patent, on a central part of online services account creation, does raise the point that there are a lot of little things that game developers should be patenting that are neglected because developers do not think it is significant enough to patent or more likely they lack the resources in time and legal work to get patents put together and shepherd through the process.
The ubiquitous radar that shows the location of friends and foes in first person shooter (FPS) and massive multiplayer online (MMO) games, is easily patentable by today’s patent standards (except that it is now ubiquitous). There are several patents related to FPS and other MMO video game radar displays that add additional functions to the basic game radar system. It would not hurt to do some occasional patent searches on a few keywords related to the type of video game or feature you are working on.
At a bare minimum, it is imperative that developers document and date their designs from a very early stage to provide some relief from patent infringement claims from the big guys like IBM who have resources to out patent every company on Earth – and keep you old source code around, it can take ten or more years for a patent troll to rear their ugly head and ding you for cut of the proceeds of your hit game. Timely publishing your ideas via Blogs and industry journals can also help if the time comes to defend your work from a patent claim – in particular if you are never going to go through the patent process or protect your idea with a solid trade secret process.
Get credit for your work and help others at the same time or someone else will.
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