Month: July 2017

Enlarge (credit: US State Department)

Most world leaders reacted with horror to President Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris climate accords. French President Emmanuel Macron responded with what was largely considered a troll: a short address in which he invites scientists and entrepreneurs to move to France and "make our planet great again." But it turned out to be more than just a troll; France has put research funding on the table and has apparently been drawing lots of interest from scientists.

Macron's invitation was more than simply a troll from the start. It involved Business France, a government agency that's dedicated to promoting French businesses overseas. The organization put together a Make Our Planet Great Again website, in which it declared "France has always led fights for human rights. Today, more than ever, we are determined to lead (and win!) this battle on climate change."

If you follow the link that indicates you want to contribute to planetary greatness, it takes you to a short survey that seems to indicate France is looking for entrepreneurs, students, teachers, and researchers. (You can also apparently be an NGO or "other" and complete the survey.)

Enlarge (credit: Sergey Galyonkin)

A Chinese video game studio accused of making a very similar version of League of Legends has recently fired back in a statement, saying that "some media and competitors who have spread the unreal information and rumors against us, [and] we reserve the right to protect ourselves and pursue legal actions."

The company, Moonton, which makes the Magic Rush and Mobile Legends games, did not immediately respond to Ars’ request for comment.

Earlier this month, Riot Games, the maker of League of Legends, sued Moonton in federal court in Los Angeles, accusing the Chinese company of copyright and trademark infringement. The lawsuit, which was first reported by Techdirt and Dot Esports, lays out a compelling argument. Riot Games says that in 2016, it discovered Magic Rush. When that title was first released, "[it] contained a number of playable heroes or champions, each of which was a near carbon copy of one of LoL’s champions," Riot notes.

Enlarge / The federal courthouse in Marshall, Texas. (credit: Photo by Mario Villafuerte/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The top US patent court has been asked to consider an urgent appeal from a manufacturer of supercomputers that's desperate to escape an upcoming trial in the patent hotspot of East Texas.

The Eastern District of Texas has become known as a haven for the type of litigation shops sometimes derided as "patent trolls," but the district's strict discovery rules and tendency to favor jury trials has attracted operating companies seeking to enforce their patents, as well. In 2015, Raytheon filed a patent lawsuit in East Texas accusing Seattle-based supercomputer maker Cray Inc. of infringing four Raytheon patents related to supercomputer hardware and software.

Cray filed a motion to have the case dismissed, arguing that the venue was inappropriate. In April, US District Judge Rodney Gilstrap ruled against Cray, noting that the company sold an XC40 supercomputer to the Texas Advanced Computing Center, or TACC, which is located outside the Eastern District, in Austin.