The video game studio behind Clicker Heroes says that after it recently refused “patent troll” demands and went public with them, it is now being threatened with fresh accusations of libel and new claims of patent infringement.

Last month Ars reported that GTX Corporation had threatened game developer Playsaurus with a lawsuit if that studio didn’t pay $35,000 for a patent licensing fee to cover a patent for “electronic tokens.”

In response, Playsaurus CEO Thomas Wolfley called GTX’s demands to avoid “costly litigation” over Playsaurus’ use of electronic “Rubies” in its games “meritless.” Clicker Heroes offers players the chance to purchase, using US dollars, something of digital value (“rubies”) in the game. Because GTX claims to own the entire concept of selling such tokens electronically, it claims that Playsaurus has violated its patent. A lawyer representing GTX has now upped the ante with the new allegations laid out above.

Wolfley wrote Monday that this latest accusation “very much feels like an attempt to silence me and stifle my freedom to speak about this issue to keep us from discovering and revealing how many of us are receiving these letters. GTX Corp.’s behavior demanding ‘$35,000’ to ‘avoid costly litigation’ is bad enough already, but stifling a small game-developer’s freedom of speech and our ability to mount a collaborative legal defense is a step too far.”

As a result of writing publicly about GTX, Wolfley told Ars that his company isn’t the only one to receive such demand letters.

“We know of at least four individuals/corporations who contacted us to say they have received similar demand letters,” he emailed Ars. “They wish to remain private, however.”

The Arizona-based GTX Corporation describes itself as a company “dedicated to the development of technologically advanced proprietary raster-to-vector conversion and editing software to bridge paper to CAD.” It is not clear how GTX’s existing “raster-to-vector conversion” business is impacted by an electronic token patent that was issued back in 2007.

“We are closely monitoring your client’s statements in the media”

Playsaurus’ attorney, Miguel Bombach, had written to GTX’s attorney, Leslie Jacobs, that the “electronic token” patent, also known as the ‘838 patent, should be invalidated. Why? Because it is an unpatentable abstract idea, according to Bombach. The concept was resoundingly rejected in a unanimous 2014 Supreme Court decision known as Alice Corp v. CLS Bank.

On March 23, Jacobs responded, saying that he “disagreed” with Bombach’s response that Playsaurus did not infringe GTX’s patent. Jacobs also rejected the argument under Alice, but he did not fully explain why.

“Finally, we note that your client has gone out of his way to destroy GTX’s reputation,” he concluded. “As such, GTX has included a libel per se claim against your client. We are closely monitoring your client’s statements in the media and on the Internet, and GTX will vigorously defend any attempts to destroy its reputation. Although GTX had hoped for an amicable business resolution, in light of your client’s scorched earth approach to destroying GTX’s reputation, GTX is forced to move forward with its libel claim to protect its reputation in addition to moving forward with its claim for patent infringement.”

Three days later, on March 26, Jacobs sent yet another letter. He claimed that Playsaurus was also violating yet another one of GTX’s patents, known as the ‘189 patent.

This patent, entitled “Method and apparatus for conducting electronic commerce transactions using electronic tokens,” appears to be very similar to the ‘838 patent. The new draft lawsuit was subsequently expanded to include claims regarding both patents and libel.

The recorded inventor of the ‘189 patent, Marvin T. Ling, is also listed on 18 other patents.

Ling’s son, Andrew Ling, is now the CEO and “in-house legal counsel” of GTX. Ars has called every US phone number that we could find associated with GTX and with Ling, but they were all disconnected. We also got a bounce-back for what we believe to be his email address. Jacobs has also not responded to Ars’ multiple requests for comment by phone and email.

For Playsaurus, Bombach responded to Jacobs in his own April 2 letter, refuting all of Jacobs’ legal arguments.

“GTX Corp.’s letters amount to harassment; these letters must stop immediately,” he concluded in the response letter. “Playsaurus refuses to provide pay-outs for meritless infringement claims simply to ‘avoid costly litigation,’ so stop sending baseless letters with draconian demands. Playsaurus fully intends to have the merits of its case decided in court and the Patent Trials and Appeals Board if GTX Corp. does not stop.”

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1286861