Microsoft is being sued by Infernal Technologies and Terminal Reality for the “egregious and wilful” patent infringement of the Infernal Engine.
GamesIndustry.biz reports that the company is being accused of infringement of two patents (Nos. 6,362,822 and 7,061,488) pertaining to graphical lighting and shadowing methods. Terminal Reality licensed the Infernal Engine to a number of studios, including Microsoft.
The filing states that game engines used in a number of Microsoft’s games, including Gears of War 4, Halo 5, and Sea of Thieves demonstrate this, and that “Microsoft’s knowing infringement […] has been egregious and willful.”
According to the filing, Terminal Reality began working with Microsoft in 1995. The claim that Microsoft is aware of the patents stems from a patent filing of its own back in 2005 relating to “the use of precomputed shadow fields in lighting and shading techniques used in video games.” The patent was rejected in light of Terminal Reality’s existing patents ‘822 and ‘488, both of which are at the centre of this lawsuit.
Between 2007 and 2009, Microsoft continued to tweak the patent application, which continued to be rejected “based upon the disclosure in the ʼ488 Patent.” Microsoft finally overcame the rejections in 2009, at which time they asked Terminal Reality to develop a Star Wars video game, and during development, asked for access to the source code for the Infernal Engine, which Terminal Reality granted.
