Activision Blizzard turns patent battle up a notch

A year and a half after being sued by Worlds Inc. over an online game patent, Activision Blizzard is now suing back, over a couple different online game patents. Activision Blizzard claimed Worlds Inc. and Worlds Online Inc. are infringing upon U.S. patents 6,014,145 ("Navigation with optimum viewpoints in three-dimensional workspace interactive displays having three-dimensional objects with collision barriers") and 5,883,628 ("Climability: property for objects in 3-D virtual environments"). Worlds sued Activision last year, claiming Activision Blizzard's World of Warcraft and Call of Duty violated its patent 6,219,045 ("System and method for enabling users to interact in a virtual space"). That suit is still pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Activision claimed the offending product in this latest case is Worlds' "Worlds Player" software, a toolkit for creating 3D, multiplayer online worlds. In 2008 Worlds filed a similar lawsuit against online game maker NCSoft claiming City of Heroes violated its virtual space patent. That case was dismissed in 2010 after the companies reached an undisclosed settlement.