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Just recently, the team behind No Man’s Sky managed to escape a worrying three-year long legal battle with BskyB over the use of the word Sky in the game’s title. This was a big relief at the time but unfortunately, it hasn’t been smooth sailing for long as No Man’s Sky now faces more legal troubles, this time for patent infringement.
For those that don’t know, No Man’s Sky uses a “Superformula” to generate its huge amount of in-game planets. This formula was acknowledged by Sean Murray, the game’s creator in an interview last year. Now, according to a report on Telegraaf.nl (via NeoGAF), a Dutch company called Genicap is claiming that it owns the patent for the ‘Superformula'.
Jeroen Sparrow, a representative of Genicap has said that while the company hasn’t provided a license for its patent to Hello Games’, the company does not want to stop No Man’s Sky from launching next month. However, if the formula is used they will “need to have a talk”.
Genicap is apparently making a game of its own based on the formula and since No Man’s Sky is said to already be using it, the Dutch company would also like to “trade knowledge with Hello Games”. For now though, efforts that Genicap has made to contact the studio have gone ignored.
It is important to note that Genicap hasn’t seen the source code for No Man’s Sky yet so it can’t be completely sure that its patent is being infringed on. However, last year in an interview with New Yorker, Sean Murray did talk about how he had struggled with procedural planetary generation (a core part of No Man’s Sky) until he had discovered an equation known as the “Superformula”, which was published by Johan Gielis in 2003. The trouble comes from the fact that Gielis owns a patent on that formula and is the Chief Research Officer at Genicap, he is also on the board of directors.
For now, Hello Games have yet to comment on these legal allegations but it doesn’t sound like it is going to get in the way of No Man’s Sky launch on the 9th of August.
KitGuru Says: It is too early to tell how this situation is going to play out but by the sounds of it, Genicap isn’t interested in hindering the launch of No Man’s Sky, so those looking forward to playing it next month shouldn’t worry too much.
If No Man’s Sky is a massive hit, a patent infringement will be worth a lot more than simply blocking a game from being released.
First patents on “react”, then “slide to unlock” now a mathematical formula? Those greedy fucks need to work for their own cash and knowledge instead of sueing others for some words or for the use of some formula. I he didn’t want others to use the superformula he shouldn’t have made it public.
Don’t be an idiot. If people don’t get reasonable recompense for their work then what’s the point in doing the work in the first place? Developing a mathematical formula can take years, just like any other form of creative activity, and if someone is using your work for their profit then you should be entitled to a cut of that profit. Just like if you invented something and a company started using it you should be entitled to a cut of that profit.
They don’t want to stop the game from launching, they just want to get a royalty per copy sold. That’s exactly how IP should be done.
The majority of the people that sue others are just greedy fucks looking to make some cash from other people their hard work. But yeah they should give some royalties since the patent has been around since 2005. But this is just 1/100 sue cases that is legit on point. The previous one was about the word “sky” in their title it is stuff like that that pisses me off.
I own the formula of 2+2=4 now everybody pay up!
Jesting aside, this is a tough case. I kinda see why there might be an issue if they just blatantly copied it. They must not have realized it was patented?
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The whole patent system is completely messed up… so what if someone manages to copy your work, if you’re product is better then it will sell more. If not, then make your product better! That’s how competition works, not this safe space “it’s all mine” bs that holds the tech industry back.
Game launches on my birthday 😛 Savage
HEY! I piss all the time I’ll have you know! And you used the word Piss to make Pisses! I’ll be seeing you in court bub!
“if you’re product is better then it will sell more”
Thats objectively not true. Marketing has a much, much more effective impact on sales than the actual quality of the product does. Which is why many companies (like Apple for example) commonly spend more money on marketing and advertising than they do on R&D