Activision Blizzard

court-rules-against-activision-blizzard-in-$23.4m-patent-dispute

Court rules against Activision Blizzard in $23.4M patent dispute

Activision Blizzard, Boeing, gaming, Networking, patent, troll / /

pay up —

Activision plans appeal, says it uses different network tech in its games.

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Acceleration Bay says <em>World of Warcraft</em>‘s networking code infringes on a patent originally filed by Boeing.” src=”https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/wowcrowd-800×450.png”></img><figcaption> <p><a data-height=Enlarge / Acceleration Bay says World of Warcraft‘s networking code infringes on a patent originally filed by Boeing.

Activision Blizzard

A jury has found Activision Blizzard liable for $23.4 million in damages in a patent infringement lawsuit first brought to court in 2015.

The case centers on patents first filed by Boeing in 2000, one that describes a “distributed game environment” across a host and multiple computers and another that describes a simple method for disconnecting from such a network. Those patents were acquired in 2015 by Acceleration Bay, which accused Activision Blizzard of using infringing technology to develop World of Warcraft and at least two Call of Duty titles.

Those accusations succeeded in court earlier this week, as a jury found a “preponderance of evidence” that the patents were infringed. The decision came following a one-week trial in which Activision Blizzard argued that its networking technology works differently from what is described in the patents, as reported by Reuters.

“While we are disappointed, we believe there is a strong basis for appeal,” an Activision Blizzard spokesperson said in a statement to the press. “We have never used the patented technologies at issue in our games.”

Acceleration Bay’s website describes it as an “incubator and investor” that wants to “nurture, protect, and support the dissemination of technological advancement.” But the company’s only currently listed venture is Edge Video, a “Web 3 Video Network” that provides crypto rewards and “AI-driven shopping” opportunities through interactive video overlays.

In a 2019 counterclaim stemming from a similar patent case (which was dismissed in 2020), Epic Games argued that “Acceleration engages in no business activity other than seeking to enforce the Asserted Patents.” Epic also said at the time that “Acceleration has asserted the same six patents against other major videogame publishers, even though Epic can see no applicability of the claimed technology to the videogame industry.”

Acceleration Bay has outstanding patent cases against Electronic Arts, Take-Two, and Amazon Web Services, among others.

In 2021, Activision Blizzard won a longstanding infringement suit brought by Worlds, Inc. over a patent for a “system and method for enabling users to interact in a virtual space.” In dismissing that case, US District Judge Denise J. Casper wrote that “client-server networks, virtual worlds, avatars, or position and orientation information are not inventions of Worlds” and that its patented technology was not “inherently inventive or sufficient to ‘transform’ the claimed abstract idea into a patent-eligible application.”

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bytedance-unlikely-to-sell-tiktok,-as-former-trump-official-plots-purchase

ByteDance unlikely to sell TikTok, as former Trump official plots purchase

Activision Blizzard, bytedance, china, Policy, steven Mnuchin, tiktok, TikTok ban / /
ByteDance unlikely to sell TikTok, as former Trump official plots purchase

Aurich Lawson | Getty Images Pool

Former US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is reportedly assembling an investor group to buy TikTok as the US comes closer to enacting legislation forcing the company to either divest from Chinese ownership or face a nationwide ban.

“I think the legislation should pass, and I think it should be sold,” Mnuchin told CNBC Thursday. “It’s a great business, and I’m going to put together a group to buy TikTok.”

Mnuchin currently leads Liberty Strategic Capital, which describes itself as “a Washington DC-based private equity firm focused on investing in dynamic global technology companies.”

According to CNBC, there is already “common ground between Liberty and ByteDance,” as Softbank—which invested in ByteDance in 2018—partnered with Liberty in 2021, contributing what Financial Times reported was an unknown amount to Mnuchin’s $2.5 billion private equity fund.

TikTok has made no indication that it would consider a sale should the legislation be enacted. Instead, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is continuing to rally TikTok users to oppose the legislation. In a TikTok post viewed by 3.8 million users, the CEO described yesterday’s vote passing the law in the US House of Representatives as “disappointing.”

“This legislation, if signed into law, WILL lead to a ban of TikTok in the United States,” Chew said, seeming to suggest that TikTok’s CEO is not considering a sale to be an option.

But Mnuchin expects that TikTok may be forced to choose to divest—as the US remains an increasingly significant market for the company. If so, he plans to be ready to snatch up the popular app, which TikTok estimated boasts 170 million American monthly active users.

“This should be owned by US businesses,” Mnuchin told CNBC. “There’s no way that the Chinese would ever let a US company own something like this in China.”

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin has said that a TikTok ban in the US would hurt the US, while little evidence backs up the supposed national security threat that lawmakers claim is urgent to address, the BBC reported. Wang has accused the US of “bullying behavior that cannot win in fair competition.” This behavior, Wang said, “disrupts companies’ normal business activity, damages the confidence of international investors in the investment environment, and damages the normal international economic and trade order.”

Liberty and Mnuchin were not immediately available to comment on whether investors have shown any serious interest so far.

However, according to the Los Angeles Times, Mnuchin has already approached a “bunch of people” to consider investing. Mnuchin told CNBC that TikTok’s technology would be the driving force behind wooing various investors.

“It would be a combination of investors, so there would be no one investor that controls this,” Mnuchin told CNBC. “The issue is all about the technology. This needs to be controlled by US businesses.”

Mnuchin’s group would likely face competition to buy TikTok. ByteDance—which PitchBook data indicates was valued at $223.5 billion in 2023—should also expect an offer from former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, The Wall Street Journal reported.

It’s unclear how valuable TikTok is to ByteDance, CNBC reported, and Mnuchin has not specified what potential valuation his group would anticipate. But if TikTok’s algorithm—which was developed in China—is part of the sale, the price would likely be higher than if ByteDance refused to sell the tech fueling the social media app’s rapid rise to popularity.

In 2020, ByteDance weighed various ownership options while facing a potential US ban under the Trump administration, The New York Times reported. Mnuchin served as Secretary of the Treasury at that time. Although ByteDance ended up partnering with Oracle to protect American TikTok users’ data instead, people briefed on ByteDance’s discussions then confirmed that ByteDance was considering carving out TikTok, potentially allowing the company to “receive new investments from existing ByteDance investors.”

The Information provided a breakdown of the most likely investors to be considered by ByteDance back in 2020. Under that plan, though, ByteDance intended to retain a minority holding rather than completely divesting ownership, the Times reported.

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microsoft-cancels-blizzard-survival-game,-lays-off-1,900

Microsoft cancels Blizzard survival game, lays off 1,900

Activision Blizzard, Biz & IT, gaming, layoffs, mergers, microsoft / /

Survival game won’t survive —

Job cuts hit Xbox, ZeniMax businesses, too, reports say.

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Activision Blizzard survival game

Enlarge / Blizzard shared this image teasing a now-cancelled game in 2022.

Blizzard Entertainment/Twitter

The survival game that Blizzard announced it was working on in January 2022 has reportedly been canceled. The cut comes as Microsoft is slashing jobs a little over four months after closing its $69 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition.

Blizzard’s game didn’t have a title yet, but Blizzard said it would be for PC and console and introduce new stories and characters. In January 2022, Blizzard put out a call for workers to help build the game.

The game’s axing was revealed today in an internal memo from Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer seen by publications including The Verge and CNBC that said:

Blizzard is ending development on its survival game project and will be shifting some of the people working on it to one of several promising new projects Blizzard has in the early stages of development.

Spencer said Microsoft was laying off 1,900 people starting today, with workers continuing to receive notifications in the coming days. The layoffs affect 8.64 percent of Microsoft’s 22,000-employee gaming division.

Another internal memo, written by Matt Booty, Microsoft’s game content and studios president, and seen by The Verge, said the layoffs are hitting “multiple” Blizzard teams, “including development teams, shared service organizations and corporate functions.” In January 2022, after plans for the merger were first announced, Bobby Kotick, then-CEO of Activision Blizzard, reportedly told employees at a meeting that Microsoft was “committed to trying to retain as many of our people as possible.”

Spencer said workers in Microsoft’s Xbox and ZeniMax Media businesses will also be impacted. Microsoft acquired ZeniMax, which owns Bethesda Softworks, for $7.5 billion in a deal that closed in March 2021.

After a bumpy ride with global regulators, Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard purchase closed in October. Booty’s memo said the job cuts announced today “reflect a focus on products and strategies that hold the most promise for Blizzard’s future growth, as well as identified areas of overlap across Blizzard and Microsoft Gaming.”

He claimed that layoffs would “enable Blizzard and Xbox to deliver ambitious games… on more platforms and in more places than ever before,” as well as “sustainable growth.”

Spencer’s memo said:

As we move forward in 2024, the leadership of Microsoft Gaming and Activision Blizzard is committed to aligning on a strategy and an execution plan with a sustainable cost structure that will support the whole of our growing business. Together, we’ve set priorities, identified areas of overlap, and ensured that we’re all aligned on the best opportunities for growth.

Laid-off employees will receive severance as per local employment laws, Spencer added.

Additional departures

Blizzard President Mike Ybarra announced via his X profile today that he is leaving the company. Booty’s memo said Ybarra “decided to leave” since the acquisition was completed. Ybarra was a top executive at Microsoft for over 20 years, including leadership positions at Xbox, before he started working at Blizzard in 2019.

Blizzard’s chief design officer, Allen Adham, is also leaving the company, per Booty’s memo.

The changes at the game studio follow Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick’s exit on January 1.

Microsoft also laid off 10,000 people, or about 4.5 percent of its reported 221,000-person workforce, last year as it worked to complete its Activision Blizzard buy. Microsoft blamed those job cuts on “macroeconomic conditions and changing customer priorities.”

Today’s job losses also join a string of recently announced tech layoffs, including at IBM, Google, SAP, and eBay and in the gaming community platforms Unity, Twitch, and Discord. However, layoffs following Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard deal were somewhat anticipated due to expected redundancies among the Washington tech giant’s biggest merger ever. This week, Microsoft hit a $3 trillion market cap, becoming the second company to do so (after Apple).

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