Uniloc Sues Electronic Arts Over Patent Infringement Claims
Posted 07/23/2012 | by Paul Lilly





Nearly a dozen game developers, including Electronic Arts (EA), stand accused of infringing upon a patent held by Uniloc that relates to a "system and method for preventing unauthorized access to electronic data." According to Uniloc, EA and others are using the patented technology, without permission, in certain Android-based mobile games, including Bejeweled 2, which was specifically named in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit against EA specifically, as it appears on Scribd, takes issue with Android-based applications on smartphones and tablets "that require communication with a server to perform a license check to prevent the unauthorized use of said application." A phone home technology, in other words. Uniloc filed similar suits against nine other game developers, all of which are related to U.S. Patent No. 6,857,067. The patent states:

"A portable licensing medium is configured to communicate with the electronic device for storing license data. The license data is used to determine whether to allow access to the electronic data. A registration authority communicates with the electronic device. The registration authority has a database of verification data for verifying the license data stored on the licensing medium and provides updated license data to the licensing medium," according to the abstract of the patent."

In addition to EA, Uniloc is suing and seeking damages and royalties from Distinctive Developments, Full Fat Productions, Gameloft, Halfbrick Studios, Laminar Research, Madfinger Games, Mojjang, Polarbit, and Square Enix.

Image Credit: Eliot Lash via Creative Commons