Note to petition signers:

Please do not donate money to this petition. While it is awesome to see how many people support this petition, all donating to it does is buy views for the petition. Instead, share the petition with your friends or in online communities where it would be allowed. If you do feel so inclined to donate, please donate to an organization like the Electronic Freedom Foundation OR to my GoFundMe to help me build a database of Prior Art for video game mechanics to help fight patent trolling in general https://gofund.me/d7b234184

Video game developers are constantly trying to innovate, to do something new to draw players in. One of the ways they do this is through the introduction of new game mechanics, new ways to interact with the world of a video game to change the way it's played. Some of these are small subtle aspects of the game that improve quality of life, and some are the core of the game itself. Either way, often once these new mechanics are seen gamers can't wait to see them again.

Unfortunately, more and more there appears to be a trend of game developers patenting these mechanics, attempting to prevent them from ever being seen again unless it is directly from that developer. They aren't just patenting the specific code and implementation either, but the general idea of the mechanic, something that often just seeks to emulate what we see in the real world every day, and are often so broad and egregious that it stifles future developers in an unfair way. These sorts of patents range from Sega patenting "Not wanting to get hit by a car" (U.S. Patent No. 6,200,138), Warner Brothers patenting complex interpersonal relationships and someone really hating your guts (U.S. Patent No. 10,926,179), and more recently Nintendo patenting the very concept of the mythical beast Pegasus (U.S. Patent No. 12,220,638).

It would be one thing if these developers were patenting their specific code, the exact way in which they implemented these concepts but they aren't. They are patenting an idea, a concept, a general way of interacting with the world, often ways that have existed long before video games were ever a thing. They are saying "We own this idea, no one else." and in doing so are unfairly stopping competition, bullying smaller game developers, and hurting the gaming community as a whole. It needs to stop.

Overall, the goal of this petition is to get lawmakers to change patent law such that general ideas can no longer be patented, and to punish those companies who would abuse the patent system. I recognize that I am neither a lawyer nor a game developer, so the exact wording of what this would look like is not something I can speak to. That said I would love to begin working with lawyers and indie game developers to hash out how best to present this. As those discussions happen, the description will be updated below.

What we want to see: 

1. Patent law to change to prevent the patenting of video game mechanics.

2. All current patent claims related to video game mechanics to be rendered null and void.

3. An increase in punishment and fines for companies or individuals for filing patents for game mechanics or attempting to falsely enforce patents related to game mechanics. This would deter future instances of large studios abusing the legal system to bully smaller studios with costly nuisance suits.

DO NOT DONATE TO THIS PETITION! ALL THE DONATIONS DO IS BUY VIEWS! PLEASE INSTEAD DONATE TO AN ORGANIZATION THAT IS FIGHTING FOR THE CAUSE SUCH AS THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION OR TO MY GOFUNDME TO HELP ME START A DATABASE TO FIGHT PATENT TROLLING!