"Mindcraft" Studio Mojang, EA, Square Enix, and More are Under Assault from a Patent Troll

Yes, they called it "Mindcraft."

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When I put on my other hat as a tech reporter, I often find myself writing about the inane exploits of various patent trolls. It's not often that that bleeds over into the video game world, but today Markus "Notch" Persson, the creator of Minecraft, woke up to find he was being sued for patent infringement by Uniloc, a troll so trollish they couldn't even spell "Minecraft" right.

The Android version of "Mindcraft" allegedly infringes on claim 107 of Patent #6,857,067, a "system and method for preventing unauthorized access to electronic data."

Notch wrote on Twitter that he grinned when he found out that he was Uniloc's latest target. "Unfortunately for them, they're suing us over a software patent. If needed, I will throw piles of money at making sure they don't get a cent," he wrote.

"Software patents are plain evil. Innovation within software is basically free, and it's growing incredibly rapid. Patents only slow it down."

The suit also names Halfbrick, Gameloft, Square Enix, Laminar Research, and EA. Yeah, good luck with that, Uniloc.

Is there any way to stop patent trolls? Are software patents really evil? Tell us your thoughts below or on Twitter.

[via Joystiq, Kotaku]

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