SEGA Takes Legal Action Against Level-5 Over Nintendo DS Patent Dispute

Just looks as if SEGA is in dire need of money and does whatever it can to get some... Well I know it isn't the reason why, but it looks like it :/

just a quick reminder, TLoZ phantom hour glass.

Hold on... Sega is suing Level 5 fo their touch control Patents? If anything, Level 5 should be suing Sega for Rhythm Thief's complete layout, that looks entirely copied from a Layton game.

That does not make any sense at all.

this seems so stupid! will they do this with nintendo for the zelda ds games?? lol

@dizzy_boy Shhh! Don't give them any ideas!

I...I don't understand...So is SEGA going to sue almost every publisher of games on the DS or what?
It's the end of the world I tell'ya!

Hmmmmm,

I'm intrigued to find out what these specific touch controls are...

Look up what SEGA is doing on Youtube at the moment. They are going on a lawsuite craze O.o But in all honesty, can you have patented rights about a controll scheme ? You can have rights for the device, enabling you to utilize such a controll scheme, but for the controll scheme itself ?`
So, if you could get the rights on "controlling a game character with an analog stick" you could get rich as hell ? O.o

Sega made a complete Professor Layton ripoff with Rhythm Thief... So, what's going on here, Sega?

See, I told them SEGA was extremely stupid.

This is extremely dumb.

"So if you poke the screen the guy moves! Most original patent ever!"

Sleepy patent office guy approves it without thought

SEGA goes crazy and sues everyone

Well sonic ain't making them those buckets o cash anymore......

About nintendo's zelda , maybe they paid sega their royalties?
So as bad as it seems, if level-5 didnt pay royalties or didnt care to do a patent check, then its their problem. Intellectual property is something important, and SEGA is only trying to keep his rights.
how would you feel to see your creations were stolen or used somewhere without your permission ?
i would be pissed too.
What tickles me is why level-5 didnt do a patent check after so many titles of the same franchise.

In other news, pong developer Atari sues everyone over use of a controller...

I wonder what touch control schemes they are talking about?

Da Funk am I reading?

I love you SEGA, but you're acting very stupid right now. This argument souns very dumb and pointless and it sounds like you people are desperate to make money, even if it means suing another game company. I mean seriously, there are tons of games like this, are you gonna go suing every company that did this? Even Nintendo EAD? Don't be dumb SEGA.

First lawsuits over rounded rectangles, now lawsuits over controls... Why have patents become so stupid?

How wierd? Yeah I Rhythm Thief looked like it cribbed a lot of Level 5's Layton style environments anyway! Lol.

@Samholy uh why would anyone think to do do a patent check on moving your character with a touchscreen? It's not exactly the kind of thing you would think about checking. I don't think SEGA should even be allowed to have this patent.

Just till the guy with the A button pressing patent sues everyone......

This is one of the number one problems with gaming. The fact that you can patent an idea... and never use it, just so your competition doesn't get a chance.

So who has the patent on the back button, the select button, the start button, the touchscreen, the analog pad, the gyro sensor/accelorometer...

If this is true, Sakurai should get in the action, as he practically invented the button masher control system.

How did Sega ever get this patent in the first place, like everybody else keeps saying, Rhythm Thief seems to "borrow" the art style and layouts of the Professor Layton games, also I've never even seen Rhythm Thief in a store anywhere.

"Ah Sega is at it again..." This is just plain sad.

Just till the guy with the A button pressing patent sues everyone......

So that's Sony safe then.

I think the patent was more about drawing lines for characters to follow rather than simply controlling them with the touchscreen. If so, Fruit Cart Yoshi must be sweating.

Sega must had never played Phantom Hourglass or Spirit Tracks, if they had they would have known that Izumo Eleven isn't the only one that control on-screen character with a finger or a pen.

I just don't agree with their being patents for software or control systems. Although I used to like SEGA, I hope they are not successful with this.

SEGA, WTF is wrong with you now? That's like acquiring a patent for a particular process of computing zeros and ones into a video game and suing you for developing the 2006 Sonic the hedgehog. That's just wro- well...

This is one of the stupidest things to sue someone over.

I will not jump to conclusions or point fingers until I have some more information. This is a strange case indeed...

What the ever-loving hell, Sega? I mean, really? If you're going to sue Level-5 over that, you may as well sue any developer who has made a touch control game ever. Hope the judge sees this the same way and throws out the case.

Didn't Nintendo have a patent on controlling the in-game camera with the c buttons back in the N64 days? I found that pretty absurd, too...

Oh man this could mean delays for the Inazuma Eleven games But really a weird situation. If they owned the patents on "relating to the process of controlling on-screen characters with a finger or pen." Couldn't they be suing just about anyone?

And I'm defenately not moving to Saturn, I'll tell you that.

Look Sega, I'm looking forward to Phantasy Star Online 2, don't be a douche and make wild patent claims like some other companies.

Oh, Sega, what other shenanigans are you capable of doing just to make a quick buck... please do tell me!

I'm muddled. I didn't see this coming.
Edit: I'm glad I'm not the only one who wasn't impressed by Rhythm Thief. I don't hate it, but was inconsistent and kinda sloppy.

I warned people that Sammy would eventually kill Sega.

Sega does what Nintendon't after all...

what? why are they suing for?

This better not have too much of an impact on Level-5. They're not as big as Sega, and shouldn't be bullied >:[

Boooooo.

Sega wants them some'a that sweet Layton money, lol :3

Great, Its pretty much Sonic VS Professor Layton

First rampant DMCAing of a fifteen year old RPG, and now this frivolous crap. Good job, Sega.

SEGA... I love you to death. Stop giving yourself a bad reputation -__-

Oh great, now Sega is suing over stupid stuff. Who's next? Retro? xD

I don't know what to think about it!

I swear the way Sega is going these days makes me think they're just mad they're not industry juggernauts anymore.

I can see patenting a brand new control scheme like the c buttons/stick and suing over it, but whats so special about their alleged patented control method that makes them think they can get away with a law suite?

When you aren't making much money,the only way to go is to sue another company which has done pretty well recently.

Makes a change to be happening in Japan, though... this is usually the domain of US companies like Apple and Microsoft:
'... yeah that's right, we like totally patented this idea of doing stuff and we like call it "iNternet" so... ahh... like anyone that's not us, see, can like pay us squillions cos we got fancier lawyers and dumb patent approval'...

Life was simpler when we were lung-fish....

Maybe SEGA has a different reason for suing Level-5 then what we're hearing? I don't think they'd literally sue because of a touch screen method from another game, not even for money. I wouldn't ever stoop to that if I had a game company, at least. C'mon people, think common sense, not even SEGA would do it for that sole reason..... at least I would hope not.