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Comment by dpcan | Hacker News Reader

But what did they do that infringed?

Everybody always replies the same way, "it's broad", "there's prior art", etc, but does anybody ACTUALLY know how a game like Angry Birds specifically infringed on these patents in such a way that they will have to pay royalties?

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I think the point is that at the time they file for patent violation, the patent holders don't have to say what part of the patent is violated (edit: except general things like patent number).

Troll: "We think you violated our patent, pay or else"

Company: "But how?"

Troll: "Look at the patent, it's not our job to tell you what you did wrong, in fact, it is our interests not to tell you"

Company: "But the patent is completely vague, it could be anything"

Troll: "Ah hah hah hah... Still want to go to court to fight this? "

Well, say the patent goes to court and Rovio begins to argue that they did not violate the patent, what would they say? This is my question, what specifically is violating? If they have to prove that they are not violating, what will they say?

The ability to buy more levels inside the game.

Do they do this? I thought there was a free version and a paid version, and in the paid version, don't you get all the levels?

TFA doesn't give the patent number, if you want to know you'll have to dig up whatever they've filed with the courts. I'd start looking in EDT; I'm just guessing, but it's where all the trolls file for quick, predictable payouts.

All the article says is that the patent allegedly covers buying new levels from within the game. So the patent is probably some generic nonsense about a method of having an ordinary computer do ordinary things. But nobody prior to them patented or mentioned doing those particular ordinary things on a computer, so it's not considered legally obvious, no matter how much it makes us want to bang our heads on a wall.

EDIT: I should mention that we won't know if they infringed at all (or whether Lodsys has a valid patent) unless it goes all the way through the system. Depending on what's being demanded, they may find it cheaper to settle, even if the patent is garbage and they may do so as a pure business decision.

Where is EDT? That means "Eastern Daylight Time" to me.

I believe that it refers to the Eastern District of Texas, where many patent cases are filed:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_District_Court_fo...

You are correct, that's the district I was referring to.

Here is the complaint that lists the patent numbers.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/60587096/11-07-21-Lodsys-Amended-C...

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