Blizzard patents "BattleChat," renews Blackthorne patent
by Mike Schramm 
Jan 31st 2008 at 8:59PM
Blizzplanet has uncovered that Blizzard has apparently filed a patent for something called "BattleChat," which purports to provide "an interface for the electronic transmission of messages and data including voice, text, and message transmission." Along with the recent news that Blizzard is seeking mobile developers, Blizzplanet supposed that this means Blizz is developing a mobile application for chatting with players either in World of Warcraft or Battle.net (their online network from previous games).It's all speculation at this point, however-- we did hear back at BlizzCon that Blizzard was planning some really interesting updates for Battle.net, so this just could be a social networking launcher/application for Blizzard's games (chat with, and play with, your friends in multiple Blizzard games at the same time). Either way, odds are Blizzard is working on something big.
And Blizzplanet also discovered that Blizzard also recently updated their Blackthorne patent as well. So if anything is going mobile, that's another good guess (seeing as the game has already been released for a few older consoles and the Game Boy Advance). If these patents are any indication, there's going to be a lot of interesting products on tap at Blizzard Entertainment.
[Thanks, Medievaldragon!]
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dave Williams Jan 31st 2008 9:50PM
This isn't a Patent (VERY big deal), it's a trademark (not a big deal). It's just a name they want to reserve, not some new technology they're trying to protect.
theRaptor Jan 31st 2008 10:36PM
I would hope that people involved in reporting computer related news would know the basic difference between a patent and a trademark. But apparently not.
Alan Joyce Jan 31st 2008 10:44PM
As Dave said, "BattleChat" appears to be a trade/service mark and definitely not a patent. Companies file for these all the time, and the fact that Blizzard would file a service mark application for the name really doesn't suggest a revolutionary new product. More likely, this could just be a name by which Blizzard hopes to collectively refer to their player-to-player communication services in future products.
armi0022 Jan 31st 2008 11:43PM
Although I am a patent attorney and this article makes my eyes bleed, if you check out the link, it is not unlikely that someone not very familiar with intellectual property would get confused as to what is going on. Cut him some slack.
theRaptor Feb 1st 2008 12:40AM
I know the link was wrong, but I find it amazing that two Internet news sites could make the same mistake. This is basic fact checking. If you can't tell the difference between patents/trademarks/copyright and can't be bothered doing fact checking maybe you should join Fox news.
Mak Feb 1st 2008 4:25AM
This is NOT a news site. It's a computer game-related blog. Yes, it covers game-related news, but the majority of articles are opinion pieces and game experiences. Frankly, I find it amazing that someone posting a comment on a blog site can't tell the difference between a blog site and a news site.
At the same time, theRaptor, you are perfectly correct about checking facts, and perhaps a little more fact checking by WoW Insider on news items wouldn't go amiss.
And I love your Fox news comment. Still COL (Chuckling Out Loud) to myself . . . ;)
-Z- Feb 1st 2008 2:11AM
whoa cut schrammy some slack, maybe a slap on the wrist but no one should be relegated to the newslums of foxnews ./giggle....after all...its wowinsider...not cnn terrorismwatch2008™ !
Diaz Feb 1st 2008 8:21AM
It's sorta like what they did with starcraft2... the website was reserved by them years before the game was created. Its like yelling out SHOTGUN!!!!
Andris Feb 1st 2008 4:04AM
Blackthorne wins life, anyway.
Hopefully that's Blizzards "Hydra" project.
Zal Feb 1st 2008 6:03AM
This is probably related to Starcraft 2 in my opinion. With it's name similar to Battle.net I doubt this is for WoW.
Aldorar Feb 1st 2008 8:27AM
I don't really have a whole lot to add here, other than it truly scares me to think how many WoW players don't know what battle.net is.
Grajen Feb 1st 2008 10:25AM
http://www.battle.net/forums/war3/thread.aspx?fn=war3-general&t=1877805&p=1&tmp=1#new1877805
3rd post, changes to battle.net.
But it's more likely that it doesn't mean anything
idburns Mar 7th 2008 6:28PM
Another posting by Schramm that is just full of fail. Seriously...for someone that has spent 10 years in journalism I'd think you would have learned by now to do some basic research on your articles.