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The U.S. District Court for Massachusetts tossed out the 9 year-long patents lawsuit against World of Warcraft game-maker Activision Blizzard.

U.S. District Judge Denise Casper agreed with Activision Blizzard’s attorneys, saying that Worlds’ patents are only “abstract ideas.” And that the concept under review is not transformative enough to be legally patentable. She disagreed with the Patent Trial and Appeals Board (PTAB) from January 2020.

The judge says that “Worlds’ asserted claims use a general-purpose computer to employ well-known filtering or crowd control methods and means that ultimate use same to display graphical results and generate a view of the virtual world, none of which is inherently inventive or sufficient to ‘transform’ the claimed abstract idea into a patent-eligible application.” 

Judge Casper granted Activision Blizzard’s summary judgment request. And she also dismissed Worlds’ infringement claims as “invalid as a matter of law.”

Worlds Incorporated patents 3D online virtual worlds

Worlds Incorporated is an intellectual property developer and the owner of several patents related to 3D online virtual worlds.” 

The extended patent infringement litigation was filed by Worlds Incorporated in 2012.

 According to the Worlds website, “ The Company has a portfolio of 10 US patents for multi-server technology for 3D applications. The earliest of these patents issued on an application filed November 12, 1996. A provisional patent application, serial number 60/020,296, was filed on November 13, 1995. These patents are related to each other and disclose and claim systems and methods for enabling users to interact in a virtual space.”

Worlds Inc. was founded in 1994 and they claim their 3D patents were the first to offer multi-user environments, known as virtual worlds.  Their patents have interactive Avatars, media graphics, text chat, voice-to-voice chat, video, and e-commerce potential. The virtual worlds they envisioned allow visitors to interact, teleport travel, and participate in shared experiences.

Litigation with World of Warcraft

In the Worlds 2012 complaint filing against Activision Blizzard, they allege that World of Warcraft and Call of Duty infringe on five of its patents. And they detail their patents showing various processes for creating, displaying, and in-game use of multiple-player 3D avatars. 

Worlds’ asked the court to order Activision Blizzard to cease and desist from the alleged infringement. And they also asked for damages to be awarded to them.