patent cases since the Supreme Court’s Alice
decision in 2014. Many patents have been invalidated by courts as directed
to abstract ideas without significantly more.
California has refused to invalidate a multiplayer video game patent (US Pat. 8,951,124) directed
to downloading separate game software to a controller that complements the main
game software. Audience Entertainment had argued that the claims were directed to “nothing more than the abstract idea of allowing multiple people to play a game together on a shared display using generic computer and communications hardware.” Timeplay responded that their patent “only exists in the field of multi-player video gaming” and that the claims “have core distinguishing features that a family playing Pictionary would never dream were necessary on game night.” (Opinion at 7-8).