GameDAILY BIZ received word recently that Texas-based law firm McKool Smith has sued 12 major game publishers and is threatening legal action against several smaller companies as well. Electronic Arts, Take-Two Interactive, Ubisoft, Activision, Atari, THQ, Vivendi Universal Games, Sega, Square Enix, Tecmo, LucasArts, and Namco Hometek are all named as defendants in the case.

McKool Smith contends that these 12 companies infringed on their patent, "Method and Apparatus for Spherical Planning," or patent 4,734,690. The patent was originally filed in March 1988 for a specific method of displaying 3-D images on a monitor.

What typically happens in patent infringement cases is the patent holder seeks a percentage of all sales of any products that infringed on their patent. The percentage taken can be very low or very high, and therein lies much of the battling. In this particular case the stakes are potentially astronomically high, as every 3-D title any of these 12 publishers has published could potentially be found to be in violation, with damages due to the patent holder. Interestingly, the complaint filed against the companies does not list any specific damages they are seeking, and instead opted to leave it open at this time.

"It's a very old and very general patent showing a method that uses a moving plane to show 3-D images. The patent is ridiculously broad. It's purely McKool Smith trying to make money. It's an abuse of the legal system," an employee of a major publisher speaking on a condition of anonymity told GameDAILY BIZ.

"McKool Smith is financing their major litigation against the 12 publishers by threatening smaller companies and then getting them to settle," the employee continued.

It's too early to say what level of success McKool Smith will have (if any), but one thing is for sure: they're taking the case very seriously. Eight of the twelve are being defended by the same law firm, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP, and it appears that the case is going to make it to court.

"Publishers should be very worried. They might have a leg to stand on from a legal standpoint. It's not impossible that McKool Smith will win. A lot of very smart people are taking this very seriously. Common sense says it's ridiculous, and from a moral standpoint it's outrageous," the employee said.

Neither side seems particularly eager to discuss the details of the case at this time. "Our preference at this time would be not to comment on pending litigation," Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP told GameDAILY BIZ. McKool Smith did not return our phone calls either.

GameDAILY BIZ will continue to monitor this case in the coming weeks and months.