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Patent Compliance Group sues Activision

By Chris Bennett, Tudor Carsten, Michael R. Coburn, Sarah Dale-Harris, Pablo Guzman, Danielle (Dani) Lemon, Chris Metcalfe and David Spratley

Gamasutra.com reports that a group called the Patent Compliance Group has filed a "qui tram" action against Activision in a District Court for the Northern District of Texas, which apparently allows for members of the public to sue on behalf of the government and potentially be awarded all or part of the damages that it claims. The lawsuit is reportedly alleging that Activision intentionally deceived the public by mislabelling Guitar Hero 5, Band Hero, Guitar Hero Smash Hits and DJ Hero with patent numbers which had patent descriptions that did not cover the scope of the products, and that Activision used the labels "Patent Pending" and "Patent Applied For" when that was not the case.

It appears that the damages sought are of not more than $500 for each violation, meaning that each unit sold could incur a penalty of up to $500, half of which the Patent Compliance Group is said to be claiming for itself, and half of which would reportedly go to the U.S. government.

Coverage at Gamasutra

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Full post as published by Video Game Law Blog on March 05, 2010 (boomark / email).