this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2024
925 points (97.4% liked)

Technology

59589 readers
2936 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Buttons@programming.dev 179 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (15 children)

Patents and video games huh? We can't ignore what John Carmack had to say about this:

The idea that I can be presented with a problem, set out to logically solve it with the tools at hand, and wind up with a program that could not be legally used because someone else followed the same logical steps some years ago and filed for a patent on it is horrifying.

--John Carmack

[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 19 points 2 months ago (2 children)

More like he wouldn't be able to sell his solution to others, but yeah I think Patents on simple processes and mechanisms are dumb, especially certain software and firmware.

[–] BigPotato@lemmy.world 31 points 2 months ago (19 children)

Imagine if you had a hammer and decided to use it to hit a nail and then someone came along and said "I see you're using my method to build a house! Pay up!"

Well, you can't patent something like that!

Imagine you open up a game engine, any engine, and decide you need to point to an objective so you decide to use an arrow. A game company says "You're using our method to identify objectives! Pay up!" and that one is a unique mechanic?

How long has humanity been using arrows to point to things? How can you patent it just because it's a digital arrow?

load more comments (19 replies)
[–] Cock_Inspecting_Asexual@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Is this lawsuit deadass about the game mechanics???

I need to out my fucking reading glasses on.

[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago

idk, but the user above me made a general statement about patent laws and I responded in kind.

load more comments (13 replies)