Zynga owes IBM $45M after using 1980s patented technology for hit games

IBM argued that its patent, initially used to launch Prodigy, remains "fundamental to the efficient communication of Internet content." Known as patent '849, that patent introduced "novel methods for presenting applications and advertisements in an interactive service that would take advantage of the computing power of each user’s personal computer (PC) and thereby reduce demand on host servers, such as those used by Prodigy," which made it "more efficient than conventional systems."

According to IBM's complaint, "By harnessing the processing and storage capabilities of the user’s PC, applications could then be composed on the fly from objects stored locally on the PC, reducing reliance on Prodigy’s server and network resources."

The jury found that Zynga infringed that patent, as well as a '719 patent designed to "improve the performance" of Internet apps by "reducing network communication delays." That patent describes technology that improves an app's performance by "reducing the number of required interactions between client and server," IBM's complaint said, and also makes it easier to develop and update apps.

All I can say is yikes.

Fuck Zynga, but "Method for presenting advertising in an interactive service" is clearly an invalid patent even if it was applied 20 years ago

It should be possible to patent only real stuff, not broad concepts that can be applied to everything

Patents aid in genocide.

There are hundreds of thousands of industrial processes that we need to change and innovate to combat climate change. Any small innovation will be patented and then potentially exploited to extract the maximum amount of profit. This reduces the pace of innovation generally, and makes greener more energy efficient solutions slower to be adopted.

Similar can be argued about advertising in general of course, they lead to more consumerism and more resource and energy use and why first world has such insane GHG per capita.

IBM argued that its patent, initially used to launch Prodigy, remains "fundamental to the efficient communication of Internet content." Known as patent '849, that patent introduced "novel methods for presenting applications and advertisements in an interactive service that would take advantage of the computing power of each user’s personal computer (PC) and thereby reduce demand on host servers, such as those used by Prodigy," which made it "more efficient than conventional systems."

I'm torn, I want a better internet but I also want less ads and ad agencies can fuck off and not use my processor and power I paid for to show me ads I don't want in the first place. Pay for your own shit!

Does anyone know how IBM is allowed to sue for patents from the 80s even as far back as 2014? I thought they should have expired by then?

I didn't know Zynga was still around