Ever wonder why the face-flaps of your favorite video game characters seem to move perfectly with whatever they’re saying? Automating that process is made easier thanks to an algorithm based on the natural laws of physics. And, naturally, there’s a company trying to sue some of the biggest gaming companies for using the math behind those laws of physics.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Knowledge, both non-profit organizations with histories of dealing with intellectual property law, were brought on as advisors to a patent infringement case involving over 20 game companies from both hemispheres including Valve, Bandai Namco, EA, Square Enix, Blizzard. The plaintiff: McRO, Inc., a company that automated lip-syncing software. The case was thrown out last September, but McRO tried to appeal in the interim (THQI paid out a $600,000 settlement in the case).
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The EFF says that McRO, Inc. is a patent troll: a company that patents and sits on ideas vague enough to sue companies later for profit.
To be patentable, an invention must be statutory, new, useful and non-obvious. Most software patents fail the first unless they’re directly tied to the way a physical machine works and as such are deemed abstract and unpatentable.
The EFF and Public Knowledge advised that the appeal be thrown out of court. The reason? McRO is trying to patent math.
“Specifically, the claims embody nothing more than the concept of applying numerical rules—that is, equations—to numerical inputs to obtain numerical outputs,” the brief states. “The purpose and effect of the claims is to embody, through mathematical representations, the natural motion of a mouth vocalizing sounds. That motion is defined by nature and physics, and as such is a natural phenomenon.”
And that’s as abstract as it gets in the world of patents.
“We urge the Court of Appeals to reject the patent owner’s Leeroy Jenkins plan instead of rushing to save this patent without thinking carefully of the consequences,” Public Knowledge said in a statement, referring to McRO’s decision to go up against some of the world’s largest video game companies.
For its part, McRO says that the specific lip syncing techniques used mirror those it invented.
The patents “teach methods, embodied in computer software, for automatically manipulating the facial features of a computer-generated character to make a video of the character realistically speaking pre-recorded dialogue … [the patented method has been hailed as ‘revolutionary,’” McRO’s brief stated. “Before these suits, many of the named defendants hired [McRO] to do animation projects for them.”
Imagine how rich Sir Isaac Newton would be if he could have patented gravity. With patent law as slow-moving as it is, patent holders for various technologies can argue to the limits of language over what protections they deserve.
“Though I have little doubt that the inventor wrote some very useful, valuable software for computer-aided lip synchronization, his patent does not claim his specific ideas,” said Charles Duan, Director of the Patent Reform Project at Public Knowledge, in a statement.
But if previous patent troll successes are of any indication, why not try patenting the natural laws? Especially if you can bend the knees of 20+ corporations, even just a little bit.
Check out the brief below:
