During 1991, two friends named Peter Hochstein and Jeffrey Tenenbaum came up with the idea of somehow communicating live whilst playing the same game in seperate locations. Feeling strongly about the idea, they patented the technology idea for it in 1994. Some considerable time later in 2002, Microsoft released Xbox Live which allowed gamers to communicate live whilst playing the same game in seperate locations - you see where this is heading?

Sony had also implented the technology when the Playstation 2 first went live online, but in 2004, Hochstein, Tenenbaum and Harold Milton, Jr. (an assignee of the patent) brought a patent infringement suit against both Microsoft and Sony alleging that the voice and data communications online used in their gaming systems infringed on the patent claims. The men had sought a permanent injunction and wanted treble damages. Sony settled its suit in April 2009, leaving Microsoft as the only remaining defendant.

The original patent by Hochstein & Tenenbaum lays a claim that communication data & game control data can be transmitted via the same game communication circuits from using a local video game - however, Microsoft wanted the claim to be construed to mean that the ‘video game communications circuit’ and its associated components were separate and distinct from the video game computer to which the circuit is attached. Whilst the sytem of playing a game and communication over a live network is what the original patent was for, Xbox Live differs in the fact that is does not transmit voice data and game data in the same way that the original patent had claimed. Microsoft has argued that their sevice is a seperate circuit which simply connects to the local video game and not from the local video game.

In May, the special court master to whom the matter was referred issued his report and recommendations, denying Microsoft’s proposed limiting construction. Instead, he construed “video game communication circuit” to mean “a circuit operatively associated with a local video game and at least one remote video game without limitation as to such circuit’s physical location or attachment to the local video game.” Microsoft objected to the master’s recommendations, but the court granted plaintiffs’ motion to adopt the recommendation anyway, dealing Microsoft a blow right before trial.

Also Hochstein & Tenenbaum have filed complaints against both Microsoft & Sony for the same reasons as above, but this time for using Live communication in the Xbox 360 & Playstation 3 consoles since their original infringement was against last-gen consoles!

Source: PatentArcade