Nintendo, a top 10 patent abuser [update 1]
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, looking to defend freedom in the digital world, has listed the top 10 most bogus software patents. Making the list is Sheldon F. Goldberg (online gaming), Acceris (VoIP), and the House that Mario Built.
Nintendo's faux pas patent has to do with software emulation. Jason Schultz, EFF's staff attorney, accuses Nintendo of being "a big bully" against small game companies writing computer emulators. Schultz believes the technology used to be allowable under the fair-use doctrine.
We all know how aggressive Nintendo is towards piracy, but some small-time developers use SNES and GBA emulators to make their own original titles. Wouldn't Nintendo benefit from a pool of support / titles from the independent scene?
Now, how about we nullify that damn load screen patent held by Namco. Load times wouldn't be so bad if we could play a minigame while we wait.
[via Evil Avatar]
[update 1: This news is so frickin' old -- 2004 old. I got hosed, and sorry guys for presenting this as recent news, 'cos it was pretty stupid of me to overlook the date.]
