9. Eligibility in Worlds Inc. v. Activision Blizzard Inc., No. 21-1554
Worlds was an early developer of 3-D virtual chatrooms and its US7,181,690 has a 1995 priority filing date. This particular patent has two steps to be performed on the client device being operated by a first user:
(a) Receive position information about some user-avatars
(b) Using that position information, determine which avatars to display to the first user
The courts found the claims directed to the abstract idea of “filtering.” The petition asks (1) what is the standard being “directed to” an abstract idea; (2) who bears the burden of coming forth with evidence on Alice Step 2. In particular, does a party seeking to invalidate a claim need to provide evidence of what was well-known, routine, and conventional? The petition here is really a follow-on to American Axle. That was denied certiorari at the end of the 2021-2022 term.
Wayne Helge (Davidson Berquist) is counsel of record for Worlds. Sonal Mehta (Wilmer) represents Activision, but only filed a statement waiving her client’s right to respond.
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