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You have to
wonder when Apogee Software has time to make games
anymore. Last month there was a huge debacle over the
so-called racism in their new 3D game "Shadow
Warrior," and just this past week Apogee has been in
the news again in regards to patent 4,662,635. Although
this string of seven digits does not suggest much to the
naked eye, the contents of the patent prove somewhat
interesting for software publishers in the industry. This
1987 patent, issued to an Illinois firm for depicting
human football players in an arcade simulation, would
seem like the furthest thing from the blood-pumping
crew-cut styling action of Duke Nukem. According to the
patent holder, Craig Enokian, that’s not the case.
In fact, Enokian, through his lawyer Ernest Kettelson,
recently sent a letter to 3D Realms asking them to cease
and desist the manufacture of any Duke Nukem related
computer video games because they violate the patent. The issue, at its heart, involves the playback of human motion on a cathode ray tube that is interactive in some nature. You may be asking yourself why Duke Nukem would be singled out as the only game to break this patent, and if so, that’s the same question we had when the patent was first brought to our attention. GameSlice launched an investigation into this patent and its effects on the industry and found some rather surprising answers from many of the involved parties and other industry sources. Apparently, the claim against the Duke Nukem franchise isn’t the first Enokian has launched, but it is the first claim to be brought to the mass-market’s attention. Claims have been exercised against a number of other large software developers (who asked not to be identified) during the past few years, and the SPA has a bulletin on their page to tell developers and publishers how to deal with the patent. GameSlice contacted Enokian’s attorney, Ernest Kettelson, for his comments on the matter, and he said that his client has "no public statement" at this time. However, he did go on to say that these patent claims are an "everyday business practice" and he is surprised by the fuss Apogee is creating over the patent. Kettelson went on to say that he "[doesn’t] think it’s proper" for Scott Miller to bring this issue to the public’s attention, as it is a matter which should be settled privately between the two involved parties. Then he claimed that the patent issue involving Apogee was "not newsworthy," suggesting that the press was "being used" by Apogee for publicity. When we asked him why Duke Nukem was singled out, he was decidedly mum on going into specifics. Although many other industry executives were contacted for this story, all of them refused to comment on the record for fear of clouding the waters. One did say that "The patent is obviously way out of line and I’m sure nothing is going to come of it. I applaud Apogee for bringing it to the attention of everyone." Scott Miller claims he’s received over a thousand e-mails supporting his company’s position. With the legal lingo to the side, you are probably wondering what this patent means to the average gamer. According to a number of people we spoke with, don't worry about games being pulled from shelves anytime soon. As one software executive put it, "It’s great this issue is being brought into the spotlight, but truthfully, it’s not going to effect the games we play one iota." Well, we almost agree with that statement except for this: you can bet we will see a mention of something relating to this case in the next game from 3D Realms. |
