Czechmate
03-11-2005, 04:47 PM
I talked with Mike Cassidy, CEO of Xfire, a few minutes ago. Here is the Xfire side of things:
- Xfire was contacted in April 2004 by Yahoo about possibly collaborating, basically meaning that Yahoo would integrate the Xfire technology into Yahoo's GameProwler. (Yes, I'd never heard of GameProwler until now either.) After a meeting or two, the talks broke down for various reasons and nothing was said of it.
- At around 5:00pm (closing time) on Thursday, January 27th, Xfire received a call from Yahoo stating that they were suing Xfire for patent infringement. There was no cease and desist letter or any other normal method of contacting Xfire made by Yahoo. The lawsuit was filed the following morning. There are a few issues with this: 1) The lead engineer at Xfire was an engineer at Yahoo and, while he was at Yahoo, he wrote the patent, meaning he knows exactly what will and what won't break it and, 2) the collaborative meeting last April bewtween the two companies now seems fishy as hell.
- Since the lawsuit was filed, Xfire has attempted multiple settlement methods in an attempt to get the case dropped. They include, but are not limited to, 1) offering to let Yahoo engineers view the source code so that they can see there is no patent infringement, and 2) allow a neutral third party to arbitrate the hearings and abide by the arbitrator's ruling. Yahoo has not responded to any offer either through their lawyers or any other means.
- Xfire has since filed a countersuit claiming, in layman's terms, that Yahoo is posing a frivilous lawsuit against Xfire in an attempt to put them out of business or force them to sell their technology way under the fair market value. Mike says it would cost around $2 million if the thing went to court, and that's $2 million they don't have. They have two VCs that fund the project, but asking for additional funds with a patent infringement lawsuit looming over your head is not easy.
In Mike's own words, Yahoo is purposely doing this because they are trying to get more in to the gaming scene. They have quietly acquired AllSeeingEye (sort of like Xfire but more like Gamespy Arcade) as well as a mobile phone game developer. The technology in Xfire would give them a big "in" with hardcore gamers (and lord knows how many extra banner ads we would get). The lawsuit, in the words of Mike, would easily be won by Xfire, but trying to pay for it would put the company under. The countersuit, if successful, would end the whole affair. The irony, of course, is that if Yahoo wants to get into the gaming scene, the worst way to do it is to piss off the hardcore gamers using a popular tool.
Anyway, I'll keep you updated. If Yahoo decides to return my calls/emails (it's amazing what phone numbers you can get if you know enough people :P), then we'll get their side of the story as well.
As it stands now, Yahoo is just fucking up big time by trying to bully a small upstart. If Yahoo wants to pay fair market value and Xfire agrees, fine. If they want to put a frivilous lawsuit in the mix, they're just hurting their standing in the very community they're desperately trying to enter.
~Czech
Ps -- When I called, Mike answered the phone, "Man, I'm glad we fixed those column widths." lol...
- Xfire was contacted in April 2004 by Yahoo about possibly collaborating, basically meaning that Yahoo would integrate the Xfire technology into Yahoo's GameProwler. (Yes, I'd never heard of GameProwler until now either.) After a meeting or two, the talks broke down for various reasons and nothing was said of it.
- At around 5:00pm (closing time) on Thursday, January 27th, Xfire received a call from Yahoo stating that they were suing Xfire for patent infringement. There was no cease and desist letter or any other normal method of contacting Xfire made by Yahoo. The lawsuit was filed the following morning. There are a few issues with this: 1) The lead engineer at Xfire was an engineer at Yahoo and, while he was at Yahoo, he wrote the patent, meaning he knows exactly what will and what won't break it and, 2) the collaborative meeting last April bewtween the two companies now seems fishy as hell.
- Since the lawsuit was filed, Xfire has attempted multiple settlement methods in an attempt to get the case dropped. They include, but are not limited to, 1) offering to let Yahoo engineers view the source code so that they can see there is no patent infringement, and 2) allow a neutral third party to arbitrate the hearings and abide by the arbitrator's ruling. Yahoo has not responded to any offer either through their lawyers or any other means.
- Xfire has since filed a countersuit claiming, in layman's terms, that Yahoo is posing a frivilous lawsuit against Xfire in an attempt to put them out of business or force them to sell their technology way under the fair market value. Mike says it would cost around $2 million if the thing went to court, and that's $2 million they don't have. They have two VCs that fund the project, but asking for additional funds with a patent infringement lawsuit looming over your head is not easy.
In Mike's own words, Yahoo is purposely doing this because they are trying to get more in to the gaming scene. They have quietly acquired AllSeeingEye (sort of like Xfire but more like Gamespy Arcade) as well as a mobile phone game developer. The technology in Xfire would give them a big "in" with hardcore gamers (and lord knows how many extra banner ads we would get). The lawsuit, in the words of Mike, would easily be won by Xfire, but trying to pay for it would put the company under. The countersuit, if successful, would end the whole affair. The irony, of course, is that if Yahoo wants to get into the gaming scene, the worst way to do it is to piss off the hardcore gamers using a popular tool.
Anyway, I'll keep you updated. If Yahoo decides to return my calls/emails (it's amazing what phone numbers you can get if you know enough people :P), then we'll get their side of the story as well.
As it stands now, Yahoo is just fucking up big time by trying to bully a small upstart. If Yahoo wants to pay fair market value and Xfire agrees, fine. If they want to put a frivilous lawsuit in the mix, they're just hurting their standing in the very community they're desperately trying to enter.
~Czech
Ps -- When I called, Mike answered the phone, "Man, I'm glad we fixed those column widths." lol...