Multiplayer legal victory for Microsoft
Judge dismisses case by owners of 1994 patent - though Sony settled last year
A US district court judge has dismissed a long-running case against Microsoft, which alleged that it infringed a patent for multiplayer gaming.
Harold Milton Jr. filed the patent 'Apparatus and method for electrically connecting remotely located videogames' in 1994, referring to it as a system "for two or more players playing the same video game to compete with each other without using the same physical video game which alleviates the necessity of proximity of the players."
Milton had also filed against Sony, which settled out of court last April.
Microsoft elected to hold out, however. According to documents seen by GamaSutra, this last week resulted in the judge throwing the case out of court and ordering Milton to cover Microsoft's legal fees.
The root of the judge's decision was the mention of an electrical connection between remotely-located games, citing that this does not accurately reflect how Xbox Live links its players.