AT&T Tech Support 360February 7, 2005 2:23 PM PST
Yahoo sues Xfire for patent infringement
The basis of the complaint, filed last week in a U.S. District Court in Northern California and served on Xfire representatives two days ago, alleges that Xfire is willfully infringing on a patent controlled by Yahoo.
The patent, referred to as the '125 patent for the last three numbers of U.S. Patent No. 6,699,125, was granted to two then-Yahoo employees, Brian Gottlieb and Chris Kirmse, on March 2, 2004. As is typical, ownership of inventions by employees remains with the corporation the employees work for. Such ownership rights are usually sealed in hiring contracts signed by employees when they're hired.
In the case of the '125 patent, Gottlieb and Kirmse were employed by Yahoo when they developed technologies for a game-specific variation on Yahoo's popular Yahoo Messenger. Yahoo has been the sole owner of the '125 patent since it was granted.
The complaint describes the Yahoo Messenger instant-message service--in this case, the GameProwler instant messenger application--as one that "allows users to use a game server in connection with a messenger server to permit 'buddies' to know when other 'buddies' are playing games online, and easily join such games."
Xfire offers a client application that allows gamers to chat with other gamers online. It also serves to help quickly facilitate gameplay on remote servers.
The Xfire client was first made available in beta form last year. Xfire recently promoted the fact that it had reached 1 million registered users.
Yahoo's GameProwler appears to be the application it feels was compromised by the Xfire client. Industry sources told GameSpot that Xfire currently has a patent pending for its service.
Key to the complaint is Kirmse, now Xfire's vice president of engineering. Yahoo claims that "after Kirmse joined defendant (Xfire), defendant began to develop, test and offer instant messenger 'client' software and a messenger server that, when operated with game servers, offers the capabilities of the invention."
Kirmse joined Xfire in August 2003. He left Yahoo some years earlier, according to sources familiar with the situation.
Neither Yahoo employees connected with the complaint nor attorneys representing Yahoo in the matter would comment on the case. Xfire officials released a statement saying, "Xfire does not infringe the Yahoo patent. We are very disappointed in the way this has been handled to date. We are hoping that this will be resolved shortly."
Xfire was founded in 2002 by Mike Cassidy, Dennis "Thresh" Fong and Max Woon.
Lawyers familiar with patent law say a case like this could cost up to $2 million to defend and take up to two years to fully adjudicate.
Yahoo recently reported it had earned $372.5 million on revenue of $1.08 billion for the most recently concluded quarter. Prospects of a drawn-out legal imbroglio, therefore, wouldn't seem to threaten Yahoo's well-being.
Curt Feldman reported for GameSpot.
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It's very pathetic that Yahoo is picking on a small company like Xfire. Xfire is an awesome service that shouldn't be taken away from us. Xfire is almost like the google of instant messaging. It's new, it's hot, and it's gunna succeed, no matter what Yahoo does
For one, GameProwler is used to track down people playing Yahoo's games, not retail games like Counter Strike and Unreal Tournament.
http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/games/play/play-23.html
There is a difference between playing Dominoes on Yahoo and fragging your buddies in Unreal Tournament. GameProwler isn't designed for hardcore gamers, xfire is. GamePrower has a different audience then xfire does, so I believe that Xfire is totally in the green in this case.
Nice solution for a cross platform chat and even usable in-game.
I think yahoo is just jealous that they didn't manage to produce a fine proggy like xfire did... which is big BS tbh.
You can follow ASE/Yahoo forum thread here http://www.udpsoft.com/forum/topic.cgi?forum=2&topic=2631&start=90
The article makes it sound like it's usually the little guys terrorizing the poor undeserving big corporations with their patents. Right. It's more like that old drug commercial.. "I learned it from watching you!"
Moreover, you cannot make any valid comment by just looking at Yahoo's patent and without having looked at the Xfire one.
The patent infringement lawsuit is just an excuse from Yahoo.
Deathlord Out!
just goes to show you, never can be too rich or too powerful
every opportunity that comes up MAKE SURE YOU GRASP IT because it may be your next virgin island property
proud to be an american
now if you'll excuse me, a guy on tv has the same haircut as me, i have to go sue him
- Monopoly
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by Core
April 19, 2006 12:19 AM PDT
- Well at least we know Yahoo is placing a patent on the "Brain Drain." Lorrie Crawford's comments are retarded, just like this suit; ?novel? what a condescending bit@h. If Yahoo doesn?t drop this lawsuit I'm going to disengage all Yahoo participation. We live in a capitalistic country where competition keeps business from becoming stagnant. Everyone e-mail Yahoo and your local state representative, and tell them you support Xfire. Xfire is a free and effective program that should not become victim to corporate monopolization. Believe it or not, but many of the big AOL?s have plans to start charging users by the minute for their search engines. As if we didn?t pay enough for the web as it is; while the AOL?s profit from the mass influx of data, and advertisement profits. I believe an artist has rights to their work, if the designers used a similar program to one they produced while working for Yahoo, who cares. It would be a different story if the designers stole it. What the hell is the matter with corporate America!
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