

Zynga wants to patent virtual currency in gambling games - deerparkwater
http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=zynga&OS=zynga&RS=zynga
Will be updating with prior art but please post if you have anything<p>Here is basically what they want to patent:<p>Purchasing virtual currency with real currency where the virtual currency cannot be returned to real currency into a gamgling game.
Using the virtual currency in the gamble and deducting/awarding the user appropriately.
2 claims that say the same thing: associating a virtual item to 2 users (implying that a virtual item can change hands, wow what an innovation zynga, thanks) and purchasing a virtual item with virtual currency
Transfering virtual currency and in the process verifying a social connection, between 2 users and placing a limit on how much they can do this.<p>Software patents need to be invalidated but we'll get into that later<p>I will be doing a live stream or a local recording of me trying to implement this "innovation" to be "defended" for ~20 years in the interests of the progression of science and arts in the shortest ammount of time<p>Also started http://stopsocialgamepatents.org
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CoryOndrejka
In 2003, Second Life had US$->L$ purchases, user->user L$ exchanges, no path
to covert back, and many users playing Texas Hold 'em and other games of
chance using L$.

We even had a day in early 2004 where some unnamed wealthy individuals had a
high stakes game of Texas Hold 'em which moved enough L$ around to distort our
statistics.

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mattmaroon
Well, if Zynga does it you know there has to be prior art since they've never
thought of anything themselves.

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Nuoji
I remember old BBS games where you could give money to the operator of the BBS
to buy turns and gold. The latter could be given to others.

Virtually all poker sites have allow you to play using "play money".

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bartl
Wow,talk about trivial.

Virtual currency already has existed for a long time already, even outside the
world of computers. For example, the small change bank cards you can charge
and pay with (like Proton in Belgium,
[http://www.atosworldline.be/index/en_US/5118014/0000/Proton....](http://www.atosworldline.be/index/en_US/5118014/0000/Proton.htm)),
that's virtual money. So are strip cards to pay fares on city buses, and the
photo vending machines in some shops where your payment gets deducted from a
prepaid card.

So what's new here: that it's for use inside a website, or that it's being
used for gambling?

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wlievens
World of Warcraft has prepaid cards.

I think even Ultima Online had prepaid cards. That's 1996.

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rubinelli
As the father of a 6-year-old who already has a Club Penguin paid account, I
really don't mind not seeing any innovations in this area for the next 17~20
years.

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rbarooah
Puzzle Pirates (www.puzzlepirates.com) has used virtual currency in exactly
these ways (for gambling in virtual poker and other games, and buying virtual
items that can be exchanged between users) since before Zynga was founded.
Seems like clear prior art. The one claim that isn't in PP is the limit on the
number of times an item can change hands.

It's hard to see how zynga wouldn't know about this.

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HNer
I want to patent money too.

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marze
Like poker chips?

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nlavezzo
>>;crediting an account of the first player with virtual currency, wherein the
virtual currency is not redeemable for legal currency.

Nope. Your money has gone into a black hole in the internet forever.

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speby
There's prior art with "virtual currency" going back as long as the eyes can
see. Even stupid old DOS Blackjack games where you got a virtual $500 to bet
with is easily considered a form of virtual currency. This is why we need a
public forum so that anyone, wikipedia-style, can look at patents awaiting
approval so that invalid ones are less likely to make it through.

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Batsu
Neopets was bashed for some time with claims that the games they produced were
similar to gambling games. I think it proves prior art in and of itself.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neopets>

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danvoell
Based on my 10 second read of the patent they are taking a real world process,
exchanging the word "real" (chips) with "virtual" (chips) and thus it is
patentable?

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rms
Rejected; I invented this first.

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deerparkwater
Will be updating with prior art but please post if you have anything

Here is basically what they want to patent:

 _Purchasing virtual currency with real currency where the virtual currency
cannot be returned to real currency into a gamgling game.

Using the virtual currency in the gamble and deducting/awarding the user
appropriately.

2 claims that say the same thing: associating a virtual item to 2 users
(implying that a virtual item can change hands, wow what an innovation zynga,
thanks) and purchasing a virtual item with virtual currency

Transfering virtual currency and in the process verifying a social connection,
between 2 users and placing a limit on how often they can do this._

Software patents need to be invalidated but we'll get into that later

I will be doing a live stream or a local recording of me trying to implement
this "innovation" to be "defended" for ~20 years in the interests of the
progression of science and arts in the shortest ammount of time

Also <http://stopsocialgamepatents.org>

~~~
deerparkwater
got back from giant, diet cream soda and diet lemon lime soda getting
livestream up

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deerparkwater
[http://allthingsd.jobamatic.com/a/jobs/find-
jobs/q-Zynga/l-S...](http://allthingsd.jobamatic.com/a/jobs/find-
jobs/q-Zynga/l-San+Francisco%2C+CA/sb-pd/pn-6)

^on september 17 as the site scrolls listings

Senior Patent Counsel is the first listing. Looks like they might have found
someone

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muffinman2010
My respect for Mark Pincus Suddenly dropped to 0. Especially since he noted as
saying, in the "Facebook Effect," that he (as well as Matt) bought the patent
to social networking so he could make it free and independent, away from the
big corporations, and talked about how patents hinder innovation... clearly
that was all BS!

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DisposaBoy
Is it just me or has everyone else seemingly not read either the title nor the
post?

Rationale:

Most people seem to be talking about this game already does this or that and
xxx is virtual money blah blah. From my understanding the patent is for
virtual currency in _gambling games_ which almost no-one seems to have
noticed. I mean, don't get me wrong I'm sure there is a lot of prior art for
this patent but it just strikes me as strange that so many people would bring
up seemingly irrelevant arguments.

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citricsquid
I don't know much about patents, but let's say Farmville (although Zynga own
it, assume they don't) decided to add some sort of betting element to their
game, would that not make it a "gambling game" and therefore infringe on any
patents against it?

While it might not affect _all_ pre-existing social games, if the above is
true then it limits what they can do with their game.

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DisposaBoy
I'm not sure how your first point applies here. If I get a patent for copy-
paste using gestures, does my patent apply to using a mouse or any future
copy-paste methods? Maybe, maybe not, it doesn't actually matter here because
those methods don't exist yet so talking about them is irrelevant as I tried
to point out. If you read the whole of my comment you'd see that I went as far
as to suggest the patent itself is most likely invalid.

