Case Against Bungie Progresses Forward
BOSTON, MA, Dec. 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- Worlds, Inc. (OTCQB: WDDD) (“Worlds” or the “Company”), a leading intellectual property developer and licensee of patents related to 3D online virtual worlds, today provides an update from a recent November 29 Order on the Conduct of Proceedings from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).
Thom Kidrin, Worlds’ Chief Executive Officer, commented, “We are pleased with the PTAB Order from November 29 regarding our patent litigation against Bungie. The PTAB Order supports our view that no additional discovery is warranted and the record for discovery will remain closed. We look forward to continued progress on our patent litigation and will update shareholders when applicable.”
On November 29, 2018, the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board issued its Order on the Conduct of Proceedings in IPR Nos. 2015-01264, -01319, and -01321. This Order followed from the September 7, 2018 decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, who vacated the Board’s previous final written decisions in these three cases, and remanded the cases to the Board with instructions to:
- consider whether Worlds is estopped from arguing the issue of Real Party in Interest (“RPI”) in these proceedings, and
- reevaluate the merits of the RPI issue.
Following a November 7, 2018 teleconference with the parties, the Board determined that further discovery on the issue of Real Party in Interest would not be authorized. Specifically, the Board noted World’s position that the Petitioner, Bungie, Inc., was unable to show good cause as to why more discovery should be allowed since Bungie stated previously that it had complied with its discovery obligations and that such discovery would be “an exercise in futility.” (Order, p. 5). Although the Board agreed to permit the parties to submit certain “non-controversial, non-testimonial evidence,” including papers from the records of three related IPRs, to “develop a more complete record that explains the differences, if any, between the issues raised in the present IPRs and the unappealed IPRs” as instructed by the Federal Circuit, the Board reasoned:
In selecting the papers to be filed, the parties should note that the Federal Circuit did not view necessarily the “issue” as the “ultimate determination of whether Activision is a real party in interest,” stating that “the determination of whether a party is a real party in interest may differ from one IPR to the next, even among a set of seemingly related IPRs.” (Order, p. 7.)
The Board also instructed the parties to submit joint stipulations to confirm non-controversial facts, including that Bungie was not a named party in the Worlds v. Activision district court action, and the timing of the Destiny game product release.
The Board’s November 29th Order also sets a briefing schedule for the parties to address the applicability of collateral estoppel to and merits of Worlds’ RPI argument. (Order, pp. 10-11). After rejecting Bungie’s initial briefing proposals, the Board ordered Bungie to file within a month from its Order, an opening brief in each IPR of up to thirty (30) pages to address both issues of collateral estoppel and RPI. Thereafter, Worlds is authorized to file its thirty-page responsive briefs within a month from Bungie’s opening brief filings, and Bungie is authorized to file reply briefs within two weeks of Worlds’ responsive brief filings. (Order, pp. 9-11).
Worlds, Inc.
Worlds, Inc. (OTCQB: WDDD), is a leading intellectual property developer and licensee of patents related to 3D online virtual worlds. The Company has a portfolio of 10 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.
For additional information about Worlds, Inc., please visit: www.Worlds.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. 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.