Reporting and commentary on games industry issues and related regulatory matters
Joined December 2023
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This could be the most important development for the smartphone business in the Android-iPhone era since the launch of the Apple and Google app stores.
If this goes through and developers and consumers value the benefits, it will put enormous pressure on Apple to open up.
Google has made an awesome proposal, subject to court approval, to open up Android in the US Epic v Google case and settle our disputes. It genuinely doubles down on Android's original vision as an open platform to streamline competing store installs globally, reduce service fees for developers on Google Play, and enable third-party in-app and web payments.
This is a comprehensive solution, which stands in contrast to Apple’s model of blocking all competing stores and leaving payments as the only vector for competition. The public filings are live.
HUGE blow for @Nintendo: head of U.S. patent office takes RARE step to order reexamination of “summon subcharacter and let it fight in 1 of 2 modes” #patent
Public outrage, starting with a @games_fray article, must have led the @uspto to take a 2nd look.
gamesfray.com/huge-blow-for-…
#Sony, #Tencent agree to push #LightofMotiram injunction hearing into 2026; meanwhile, Tencent points to multiple Mickey Mouse trademarks
Sony's lead counsel can't come to a hearing on Dec 4. because she'll be in NY representing Microsoft against the NYT
gamesfray.com/sony-tencent-a…
Japan Patent Office rejects @Nintendo application relevant to @Palworld_EN dispute, cites games like ARK as prior art after third-party submission
Is Pocketpair behind that submission? The timing and the content of the submission suggest so.
gamesfray.com/japan-patent-o…
BREAKING: #Sony asks Judge Corley for preliminary injunction against #Tencent’s upcoming Light of Motiram in November or December
They want a November 20 hearing, which may be wishful thinking. Tencent says its game launch is still two years away.
gamesfray.com/breaking-sony-…
#Sony points Judge Corley to 2016 #Tencent filing stressing its California presence, adjusts its argument to late-2027 Light of Motiram release date
Sony filed a well-crafted opposition brief to Tencent's motion to dismiss, but is the case really urgent?
gamesfray.com/sony-points-ju…
Leaks of upcoming Nintendo title call motives behind Palworld patent suit into question: attempt to create reality distortion field?
Is it all about saying that Nintendo is the true innovator when in reality is is now in part a (not so fast) follower?
gamesfray.com/leaks-of-upcom…
Tencent brought a motion to dismiss Sony's trademark and copyright lawsuit in California. Judge Corley will make the decision, and she has rescheduled the motion hearing to December 2, 2025 at 9 AM in San Francisco (same courtroom as for the Microsoft-ABK PI hearing in 2023).
Sony v. Tencent (Sony is seeking a preliminary injunction (PI) against Light of Motiram over (c) and trademarks) has been reassigned to Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley, who two years ago denied the FTC a preliminary injunction against Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
#Nintendo’s summoning #patent: @WinC_Gaming , @pcgamer got right what The @Verge and a law prof got wrong — and let’s look at a 50-year-old game
Gun Fight (Midway, 1975) or Outlaw (Atari, 1978) were essentially Nintendo's starting point for that patent.
gamesfray.com/nintendos-summ…
#Tencent says #Sony “utterly fails” to make case against Lights of Motiram, wants to monopolize old ideas; court should read #Steam comments
When gamers first saw Horizon, it reminded them of Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, Tomb Raider's Lara Croft etc.
gamesfray.com/tencent-says-s…
GROSS: In Palworld patent case, Nintendo tells Japanese judge mods should not count as prior art because they can’t run without underlying games
The net effect would be that if modders don't file for patents, others could patent their stuff and sue them.
gamesfray.com/gross-in-palwo…
games fray retweeted
A videogame IP lawyer agrees with my criticism on @games_fray that Nintendo should never have received a "summon character and let it fight" patent.
@thicc_stick_boi and I recorded a discussion of HOW it happened. I explained it based on key patent office documents. Stay tuned.
'An embarrassing failure of the US patent system': Videogame IP lawyer says Nintendo's latest patents on Pokémon mechanics 'should not have happened, full stop' pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/…
Last week, #Nintendo and The #Pokémon Company received a U.S. #patent on summoning a character and letting it fight another
The USPTO granted a patent application from March 2023 without any objection. Now Nintendo technically owns a monopoly on this.
gamesfray.com/last-week-nint…
HoyoVerse’s upcoming Nexus Anima game infringes mounting-of-flying-objects patent Nintendo is asserting against Pocketpair’s Palworld
Is Nintendo going to sue China's HoyoVerse or are they only suing Japanese indies like Pocketpair?
gamesfray.com/hoyoverses-upc…
In the dispute with Epic, Google just filed a petition for rehearing by the same panel or "en banc" (an enlarged panel) with the Ninth Circuit.
Such petitions are rarely granted, but this is a high-stakes case, so it's not inconceivable. Thereafter, only the Supreme Court.
Given that they don't have the same prestige as district judges, magistrate judges' rulings are harder to defend on appeal.
Sony may hope to save time. Or maybe they feel good about Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Spero.
If Tencent declines, the case will be reassigned.
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Normally, the parties to a high-stakes high-profile case want a district judge. There are really great magistrate judges. Judge Corley was one for qute a while and became a great district judge. But normally they just handle small stuff: discovery disputes, sealing etc.
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