Any fans of Minecraft who follow the game’s creator Notch on Twitter woke up to some pretty interesting news today. In a tweet early this morning, Notch stated, “Step 1: Wake up. Step 2: Check email. Step 3: See we’re being sued for patent infringement. Step 4: Smile.” It was later explained that Uniloc, a Texas based company known for their patent lawsuits, has chosen Mojang as it’s next target. The supposed perpetrator of said infringement is the Android version of Minecraft, or Mindcraft as the filing states.
The legal documentation found here claims Mojang infringes on the patent entitled “System and method for preventing unauthorized access to electronic data.” That’s quite a mouthful, but it only gets more complicated. The folks over at Joystiq did a little digging and found the specific claim within the patent that Uniloc is referencing. Apparently it covers, “Computer code executable on an electronic device to prevent unauthorized access to electronic data stored on the electronic device.”
Notch made his opinion of the situation quite clear, later stating via Twitter that he finds software patents “evil,” and that he “will throw piles of money at making sure they don’t get a cent.” There isn’t much more known at this time, but this will surely be interesting to watch.
What do you think of this predicament, and software patents in general? Let us know in the comments below, or over in the StickSkills forums.