Microsoft Being Sued Over Xbox Live Chat
While some companies are looking into restructuring and creating new innovative products as means of beating the recessions, others are going for a slightly different means of getting more money: lawsuits. Activision was recently sued by Gibson, the guitar manufacturer that they’d partnered with in making the Guitar Hero games over patent infringement. Joining the ranks of the legally besieged is Microsoft.
They’ve been sued by online chat company Paltalk who are claiming that certain functions of the Xbox Live chat violate patents that they hold including technologies for “gaming communications through a group message server to maintain a consistent environment for all players, as well as establishing groups for online game play.” Microsoft says that they had meetings with the company when they were creating Xbox Live, but after examining their technology went another way. The company is seeking $90 million in compensation, with the trial set to begin in Texas this month.