WRLDS
BOSTON, MA--(Marketwired - Sep 17, 2015) - Judge Denise Casper of The U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts has issued the Joint Pretrial Schedule for the Worlds Inc. (
1. Fact discovery to be completed by 2/1/16.
2. Opening expert reports by 3/1/16.
3. Rebuttal expert reports by 4/1/16.
4. Expert discovery to be completed by 4/22/16.
5. Dispositive/Daubert Motions to be filed by 5/20/16.
6. Opposition to Dispositive/Daubert Motions to be filed by 6/20/16.
7. Reply ISO Dispositive/Daubert Motions to be filed by 7/11/16.
8. Hearing on Dispositive/Daubert Motions set for 7/20/16 at 2:00PM.
9. Initial Pretrial Conference set for 9/29/16 at 2:00PM.
The order to schedule these dates leading to trial follows the Markman ruling favorable to Worlds Inc. that was issued in June 2015.
Bungie Petitions
Worlds has filed its preliminary responses to the inter partes review (IPR) petitions filed by Bungie Inc. in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that seek to call into review the validity of World's patents and thus delay or prevent a trial.
"We and our legal counsel at Davidson, Berquist, Jackson & Gowdey, LLP, who have successfully overcome IPR challenges in the last 6 of 7 cases they represented, have addressed all the issues raised in the Bungie petitions with the USPTO and believe there is no basis to institute an IPR," Thom Kidrin, Worlds CEO stated. "We look forward to a favorable response by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) within the next few months."
Motion for Summary Judgment
Judge Casper has scheduled Nov. 10th for a hearing on the motion for summary judgment (MSJ) under Section 101 requested by Activision Blizzard. "This is an additional attempt to invalidate our patents involved in the infringement suit against Activision by claiming they are covered our patents involved in the Activision suit," Kidrin said. "We believe that our patent claims are not covered by the US Supreme Court's rulings of invalidity under CLS Bank Intern. v. Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd., as our patents involve a different category of software. Our patents are directed at software solving a problem that specifically arises in the realm of computing."
Susman Godfrey is versed in Section 101 software patent invalidity challenges and received a favorable decision on a significant Section 101 case (DDR Holdings). Additionally last week in The District Court of Massachusetts there was another 101 challenge to a software patent that was successfully defended by a different firm (DataTern, Inc. v. Microstrategy, Inc) that also involved software solving a problem that specifically arises in the realm of computing. Kidrin noted, "While the patents are different and the decisions were not related to our case, we are confident in Susman Godfrey's opinion that our patents are not invalid under Section 101. We look forward to the court's ruling."
"We believe that we have addressed all challenges that have delayed the trial thus far," stated Kidrin. "We are happy to now have the Court's pretrial schedule and begin preparations for our day in court."
More information on the lawsuit and Worlds' patents can be found on the Worlds.com website.
About Worlds Inc.:
Worlds Inc. is a leading intellectual property developer and licensee of patents related to 3D online virtual worlds. The Company has a portfolio of 7 US patents for multi-server technology for 3D applications. The earliest of these patents issued on an application filed November 12, 1996. A provisional patent application, serial number 60/020,296, was filed on November 13, 1995. These patents are related to each other and disclose and claim systems and methods for enabling users to interact in a virtual space. Visit www.Worlds.com.
About Susman Godfrey L.L.P.
Susman Godfrey L.L.P., a law firm with more than 80 lawyers was recently named one of the top litigation boutiques in the country by The American Lawyer. The firm represents plaintiffs and defendants in a broad range of commercial litigation matters, including antitrust, patent and intellectual property, securities and corporate governance litigation, energy, commercial and products liability, bankruptcy and financial restructuring, accounting malpractice, arbitration, climate change, and international litigation. The firm has offices in Houston, Dallas, Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York. For additional information, visit www.susmangodfrey.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This release contains certain forward-looking statements and information relating to Worlds Inc. that are based on the beliefs of Worlds' management, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Such statements reflect the current views of the Company with respect to future events including estimates and projections about its business based on certain assumptions of its management, including those described in this Release. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risk and uncertainties that are difficult to predict, including, among other factors, changes in demand for the Company's services and products, changes in the economic environment and changes in technology. Additional risk factors are included in the Company's public filings with the SEC. Should one or more of these underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as "hoped," "anticipated," "believed," "estimated," "should," "preparing," "expected" or words of a similar nature. The Company does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.
