According to videogame patent lawyer Kirk Sigmon, the USPTO granting Nintendo these latest patents isn't just a moment of questionable legal theory. It's an indictment of American patent law.

"Broadly, I don't disagree with the many online complaints about these Nintendo patents," said Sigmon, whose opinions do not represent those of his firm and clients. "They have been an embarrassing failure of the US patent system."

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[–] 126 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (7 children)

I can't wait to play Elden Ring 2 when it's made by Nintendo because Elden Ring used summoning and now only runs at 12 fps.

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  • [–] 65 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    Nintendo also owns the rights to platformers, racing games, and rpgs. Tough luck, that's just how it is.

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  • [–] 24 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    NPC dialogs? Owned by Nintendo too.

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  • [–] 43 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    The US patent system IS a colossal failure, of course it spits out failures

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  • [–] 104 points 1 year ago

    This is why I can't support Nintendo.

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  • [–] 61 points 1 year ago (9 children)

    I'm going to patent electrons passing through a xor gate

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    You can probably get away with it if you write it in a confusing enough fashion; but you need to make it really confusing - to the point even CPU architecture experts could miss it unless they pay very close attention; and remember that the claims - which are the only part of the patent that has any legal meaning - may be limited by law to a single sentence each, but there is no limit on how cumbersome each sentence is; additionally, semicolons are not sentence terminators; this means that this entire comment I just wrote is technically a only one sentence.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (4 children)

    Prior art exists of that though so you wouldn't be able to. I know you're making a joke though lol.

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  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    If Nintendo can patent MOUNTS in the year of our lord 2025, that lemming can patent logic gates.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)

    I thought this was about the ball throwing to capture monsters

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  • [–] 58 points 1 year ago

    Capcom should start their patent for 2D fighting games and see what happens to Super Smash Bros

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  • [–] 49 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    The USPTO is notorious for granting insane patents knowing they are invalid or too vague and expect the court system to be the final arbiter. It’s almost as if they like stirring shit up for there own amusement.

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  • [–] 23 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    I'd wager these video game illiterates look at 1 thing: do they recognize the name of the company?

    If the answer to that is 'yes,' then they will give that company whatever they want. If the answer is 'no,' then you're fucked.

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  • [–] 38 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Someone in the patent office got bribed.

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  • [–] 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    I'm fully stopped. Now what?

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  • [–] 87 points 1 year ago (7 children)

    death to intellectual property

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  • [–] -2 points 1 year ago (5 children)
  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    nah, death to all intellectual property. it’s not better when it’s physical. in fact, in some cases, it’s much much worse; like with medicine patents

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (3 children)

    Patents are not intellectual property and they are regulated by the patent office. Intellectual property is not regulated and cannot be blanket dismissed.

    We just need someone competent on patent offices

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)

    How are patents not intellectual property?

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  • [–] 13 points 1 year ago*

    “They have been an embarrassing failure of the US patent system. “ seems like a trend these days

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