Turbine Swept Up In Infringement Lawsuit

Turbine, maker of Dungeons & Dragons Online, has a busy legal department of late. In addition to suing Atari, it’s being sued—along with Sony and Blizzard—by a holding firm alleging infringement of their patented real-time technology.

The company, Paltalk Holdings Inc., has successfully settled claims against Microsoft, alleging it infringed the same patents in Halo. The technology in question concerns how multiple players in different locations still see the same events—explosions, monsters, etc.—in real time.

Paltalk bought the patents in 2002, and allege that Turbine and other companies are infringing them. The suit’s been filed in federal court for the Eastern District of Texas, which is known as a plaintiff-friendly venue for such litigation. Microsoft’s settlement, back in March, certainly makes it harder to deny the validity of Paltalk’s claim.

In addition to Turbine, Sony (Everquest) and Blizzard (World of Warcraft), NCSoft (Guild Wars) and Jagex (Runescape) are also named as defendants.

Westwood-Based Video Game Maker Named in Patent Infringement Suit [The Boston Globe]