Uniloc Sues Sony, Activision Blizzard and Aspyr Over Copy Protection

Uniloc, which specializes in computer security and copy protection initiatives, has filed a lawsuit against Sony Corp. of America, Activision Blizzard, Aspy Media—and a handful of other software companies—alleging that the defendants infringed on a Uniloc patent which centers on a system for registering software.

The Orange County Business Journal pointed us towards the lawsuit, which was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division, on July 29. Additional defendants include Borland Software corp., McAfee, Inc. and Quark, Inc.

At issue is Uniloc’s U.S. Patent # 5,490,216 (Exhibit A PDF), entitled “System for Software Registration.” Uiloc alleges that the defendants “directly and/or indirectly infringed at least one claim of the ‘216 patent” by “among other things, making, using, offering for sale, selling and/or importing a system, device and/or method for reducing software piracy, reducing casual copying and/or reducing the unauthorized use of software, including without limitation.”

Uniloc claims that each infringement has “caused reparable and irreparable damage to Uniloc and Uniloc will continue to suffer damage for which remedies at law are inadequate unless each defendant is enjoined.”

Uniloc had filed a similar lawsuit in 2003 against Microsoft Corporation, winning a $388 million judgment in 2009. That win was short-lived however, as a judge overturned that verdict later in the year, ruling that Microsoft did not infringe on Uniloc’s patent.

Grab a copy of the complaint here (PDF).


Thanks Dan!