Hello Leagueoflegends subreddit. As I am a patent attorney and a devoted League player/watcher, this topic was of particular interest to me.
On Jan. 28, 2014, the US Patent office granted Riot Games patent No. 8,636,589. The patent can be found here for anyone interested: Google Link (contains a PDF link to the patent document).
The patent appears to cover the way the self-moving camera works in spectator mode. The claims (i.e. monopoly) of the patent prevent others from calculating "interest values" around champions (aka avatars), and moving the camera around based on the interest values. So in theory, putting business concerns aside, and assuming the patent is valid, other MOBAs such as DOTA2 or Blizzards MOBA are prevented from using the same self moving camera.
A couple of other "Patenty" things to note:
Riot is seeking other patents:
Regarding the Spectator Client, they have at least three more pending applications (2 in the US, and a worldwide placeholder application called a PCT (PCT Link))
Riot also has patent applications in the works for the Tribunal and Matchmaking
Riot Games has also been sued several times by patent trolls:
Sued by Babbage Holdings over US Patent 5,561,811 claiming to cover multi-user applications with multiple input devices, and individual preferences tied to those users/devices (In a later post I will discuss why I think this patent is invalid)
Sued by Parallel Networks over US Patents 7,188,145 and 7,730,262 claiming to cover a method of doing peer-to-peer software distribution.
Sued by 1st Technology over US Patent 5,564,001, among others, claiming to cover transmission compression of audio and video.
Given that Riot is now entering into the patent game itself, I'd like it to be a good actor in the patent space. In the past, Riot has had a very liberal IP policy (see this). Riot has also publicly advocated against bad IP laws such as SOPA. I commend Riot for adopting these stances, but I want to make sure Riot continues this positive trend when it comes to patents.
There is of course a very real business need for patents: Riot needs to keep up with competitors. Valve already has quite a large patent portfolio, although I couldn't find any directly related to DOTA after a quick search. In any event, it is good for Riot to acquire patents as a "shield" (i.e. when they get sued by a competitor, they have useful patents for protecting themselves that they might assert in a counter-claim).
But Riot should also take care in proactively enforcing its portfolio against other MOBAs. Riot has claimed in the past that they want Esports to grow as a whole. Enforcing their patents against others (e.g. preventing others from using a self moving camera that benefits all observers, and using the patent as a "sword") may not be in the Esports interest as a whole. Further, Riot itself knows how it feels to get sued for patent infringement and the significant drain on resources these kinds of lawsuits can cause (better to have these companies spend that money making great games)!
One way Riot could show us its intentions with its patents is to sign on to a defensive patent pledge. Twitter has done something similar in the past link. Although there are questions about the enforceability of these pledges, it might nevertheless go a long way in showing the Esports community that Riot takes seriously the impact these patents might have on Esports.
Just my two cents. What do you think?
tl;dr Riot has a patent on the self-moving camera. Riot should take care in enforcing its patents in the future, and consider the effects of their patents on Esports.
http://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/1x3v1u/riot_games_granted_us_patent_on_spectator_mode/
