Mojang Sued for Patent Infringement

Uniloc USA Inc., a small company based in Plano, Texas, has levelled a lawsuit at Minecraft developer Mojang over patent infringement claims. Square Enix, EA and Gameloft have been targeted for similar claims as well.

Mojang founder Markus "Notch" Persson tweeted an announcement about the lawsuit on Saturday, writing,

"Step 1: Wake up. Step 2: Check email. Step 3: See we're being sued for patent infringement. Step 4: Smile."

Persson also tweeted a PDF of the lawsuit document.

PatentBuddy, a site which provides information and analysis on patents, demonstrates that the patent Mojang is apparently infringing upon was filed back in 2005 and involves ""a system and method … for preventing unauthorized access to electronic data stored on an electronic device."

Uniloc, which is in essence claiming to have patented online authorization for just about anything, holds an intentionally-ambiguous patent which it appears to be using against larger companies. If Uniloc is indeed a patent troll, as some say it is (typically, a company that files for an array of patents for technologies it never actually plans on using, only to sue other companies that use anything remotely similar), it may be intent to try to get Persson to settle out of court.

Persson, however, will have none of that.

"If needed, I will throw piles of money at making sure they don't get a cent," he tweeted.

Via: Tech & Trend

Image: Flickr/Gordon Wrigley