The internet is so fundamental to modern life that it’s easy to forget that much of the technology used to build the World Wide Web is patent protected — and some of those patents are still valid today. Gaming company Zynga may have learned that the hard way last week, when a court ruled that the company infringed an IBM patent dating back to the 1980s’ pre-internet communications platform Prodigy. As a result, Zynga could be assessed $44.9 million in damages. IBM’s 1993 “Method of Displaying Advertising in an Interactive Service” patent accounts for $40 million of the recommended damages.
For those still playing Zynga’s games, which were once playable anywhere, the ruling will not disrupt gaming time. The company said in its SEC filing that it will not be required to modify or cease operations of its games as a result of the ruling. Interestingly, not all games in the Zynga catalog were found to infringe the patent. For example, Crosswords with Friends was found to be in violation, but none of the Words With Friends titles were found to be in violation. A Take-Two representative told Ars Technica that the company will appeal the ruling.
IBM has a long history of collecting intellectual property rights. Zynga, which was acquired by Take-Two Interactive in 2022, is not the first target of potential infringement of Prodigy’s patents, and it probably won’t be the last. Over the years, the computer company has targeted many online businesses, from long-standing giants (such as Amazon and X (formerly Twitter)) to flash-in-the-pan companies (such as Groupon). But some defendants, such as pet retail platform Chewy, have managed to dodge IBM’s lawsuits.
