Game giants sued over anti-piracy patent

Activision, Sony and Aspyr in the DRM dock

Some of the biggest names in the gaming industry are coming under attack for their use of anti-piracy measures, but for once it's not from the gamers themselves.

Singapore security outfit Uniloc has filed a suit against seven software and hardware companies, including Activision, Sony and Aspyr, insisting that they have all at some time infringed its international patents.

Non-gaming companies including security outfit McAfee and desktop publishing leader Quark have also come under fire according to Gamasutra.

Uniloc's claim is expected to run into hundreds of millions of dollars, but could well go the way of a near-identical suit brought against Microsoft in 2009. In that case the jury awarded Uniloc close to $500 million in damages only to have the decision overturned by a judge a few months later.

Uniloc alleges that the offending parties have "willfully" infringed on the patent, because they were all aware of the high-profile Microsoft case, and have "acted despite an objectively high likelihood that its actions constitute infringement of the [patent]."