US law firm McKool Smith has targeted a number of major games publishers, alleging that they used 3D graphics technology which infringes on a patent from 1988.

Electronic Arts, Activison, Take Two Interactive Software, Ubisoft Entertainment, Atari, THQ, Vivendi Universal Games, Sega, Square Enix, Tecmo, Lucasarts Entertainment and Namco are named as defendants in the lawsuit.

U.S. Patent No. 4,734,690 mentions a "method and apparatus for spherical panning," which describes a system for moving representation of objects in 3D and projecting the results onto a 2D plane (such as a screen of a TV or monitor), allowing the user to move their perspective around the model and zoom in/out.

Essentially, any developer that used 3D graphics is implicated with this lawsuit, and would potentially require a license for the patent for most 3D games created.

McKool Smith has not released its demands in the suit.

From DIGIT