I agree that the joe public has this wrong but believe the confusion and uncertainty is holding this back amongst the current patent litigation environment against NPE's and especially against software patent trolls. "trolls" is their word not mine.
what keeps me in this game is the following:
BOSTON, MA--(Marketwired - Mar 14, 2014) - Judge Denise Casper issued a ruling March 13, 2014 on the Motion for Summary Judgment (MSJ) hearing that allows World's Inc. (OTCBB: WDDD) to proceed with its patent infringement suit against Activision Blizzard, Inc., Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. and Activision Publishing, Inc.'s (Activision). The MSJ hearing held October 17, 2013 addressed Activision's dispute of Worlds Inc.'s November 1995 patent priority date. The court did not dismiss the case as requested by Activision. In fact, the ruling stated, "The Court declines to enter judgment in Defendants' (Activision) favor at this time." Moreover, the court upheld the validity of the patents by ruling; "Indeed, nothing about the Court's order prevents Worlds from asserting infringement from the date of the certificate going forward."
Judge Casper's ruling prevents Worlds Inc. from pursuing damages for the period prior to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) issuance of Certificates of Correction on September 24, 2013 that amended Worlds' 6,219,045 and 7,181,790 patents to include comprehensive priority information, which specifically references Worlds' November 1995 provisional patent application and confirms World's 1995 priority date.
