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Yahoo, Xfire settle lawsuit

  • By Staff, GameSpot
  • Posted Feb 9, 2006 4:07 pm PT

Yearlong dispute over patents used in Yahoo Messenger resolved outside of court.

A little over a year ago, Internet giant Yahoo filed suit against Xfire, alleging that its gamer chat program infringed on patents used in the company's Yahoo Messenger instant message service. The two parties spent most of the year winding through the legal process, until in November, both sides asked for a delay in the proceedings so that they could make another attempt at coming to a settlement among themselves.

Today an Xfire representative confirmed for GameSpot that those efforts were successful and the lawsuit has been settled. The confirmation included no details about the settlement.

The Yahoo patent was granted to two former Yahoo employees, Brian Gottlieb and Chris Kirmse, in March of 2004. After his tenure at Yahoo ended, Kirmse transitioned to Xfire, becoming its vice president of engineering. Yahoo claimed that after Kirmse joined Xfire, he "began to develop, test, and offer instant messenger 'client' software and a messenger server that, when operated with game servers, offers the capabilities of [Yahoo Messenger]."

26 Comments

  • neutralx2

    Posted Feb 12, 2006 11:50 am GMT

    Glad to hear this, I use xfire all the time.

  • XlpranksterlX

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 7:43 am GMT

    About friggin time. This happened so long ago i thought it was done with already. And didnt Yahoo want to buy Xfire at some point?

  • steveallen3112

    Posted Feb 11, 2006 2:29 am GMT

    Sounds to me like Yahoo was just Jealous that their guy joined Xfire. I dont know one person who uses Yahoo messenger, i tried it a few months back and it sucks.

  • southy787

    Posted Feb 10, 2006 10:29 am GMT

    It makes some of my games crash as well, also, how come hitman90 spams? Ban im!

  • hitman90

    Posted Feb 10, 2006 9:32 am GMT

    I

  • 1109

    Posted Feb 10, 2006 7:59 am GMT

    xfire makes some games crash for me.. o_õ

  • The_Daw

    Posted Feb 10, 2006 6:57 am GMT

    I remember signing an xfire petition way back in August

  • molivers7

    Posted Feb 10, 2006 6:51 am GMT

    I am going to sleep better tonite?!?

  • KnightsofRound

    Posted Feb 10, 2006 12:12 am GMT

    Xfire is awesome. Yahoo blows.

  • andrewtyen

    Posted Feb 9, 2006 11:43 pm GMT

    great

  • azizrulez

    Posted Feb 9, 2006 10:02 pm GMT

    yeah yahoo is crap xfire is much better for gamers

  • boolow407

    Posted Feb 9, 2006 9:08 pm GMT

    Ive caught a few viruses, I suspect using messengers like yahoo and msn.

  • ebonyflame

    Posted Feb 9, 2006 8:23 pm GMT

    Hrd to believe that lawsuit as goneon this long. Just goes to show that big business will not always crush th little guy.

  • Reetesh

    Posted Feb 9, 2006 8:17 pm GMT

    tleast Now we can Enjoy playing without fear of Such a great thing shutting down or Made bad by Ads(due the money loss in Case)

  • GyRo567

    Posted Feb 9, 2006 8:15 pm GMT

    I still don't like Yahoo! after hearing about this like 6 months ago.

  • shinakuma_2

    Posted Feb 9, 2006 6:26 pm GMT

    [This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]

  • OmegaBob

    Posted Feb 9, 2006 6:02 pm GMT

    Heh! Isnt this old news as it was announced on Xfires site a few days/weeks ago?

  • Donkeljohn

    Posted Feb 9, 2006 5:42 pm GMT

    Well. . . if he held the patents, he is allowed to use them

  • Bruin4ev3r1520

    Posted Feb 9, 2006 5:07 pm GMT

    That was a whole year ago? didnt seem that long to me.

  • Kiith_Somtaaw

    Posted Feb 9, 2006 4:56 pm GMT

    Tucker's Rock, Keep out, rofl

  • prvtTucker

    Posted Feb 9, 2006 4:55 pm GMT

    mmhmm..

    I hate yahoo they dont give us mac users any cool features.

  • Kiith_Somtaaw

    Posted Feb 9, 2006 4:48 pm GMT

    In agree with dante90b comment.

    Xfire! > Bahoo!

    LOL!

  • dante90b

    Posted Feb 9, 2006 4:42 pm GMT

    i have never heard of this case. but who cares yahoo sucks and xfire rules.

  • Game-o_O

    Posted Feb 9, 2006 4:20 pm GMT

    Don't use it, it has ip protection. It's very easy to get virus's & crap from other users, they just click & go :/. -- The chats are even worse. Anyways, I neither heard of this case .

  • StealthyBurrito

    Posted Feb 9, 2006 4:18 pm GMT

    Yeah, I guess.....

  • mikey050591

    Posted Feb 9, 2006 4:14 pm GMT

    i have never even heard of that case, but i dont use yahoo messenger anyways

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