This PlayStation Patents Terminology Row Is the Stupidest Story in Games | Push Square

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Sony is underfire for insinuating in patents that it makes superior products to its rivals. While it shouldn’t be particularly surprising for a giant corporation to back its own output, boilerplate terminology discovered in a slew of PlayStation applications has sent the Internet into a frenzy on this otherwise tame Easter weekend.

The story started a few days ago, when GameRant discovered pretty standard documentation for a universal controller-like device, in which it referenced rival “home entertainment systems” from “different albeit inferior manufacturers”. It doesn’t specifically mention any other platform holders by name, but it refers to consoles like the PS4 earlier in the sentence, so it’s probably safe to assume who it’s aimed at.

This sent patent expert Florian Mueller into a furore, where he pointed out in a strongly worded blog that this is far from the first time the Japanese company has used the terminology, and described the it as “childish”, “unprofessional”, and even “stupid”. It should be noted that Mueller, in his blog’s biography, lists Microsoft as a client, although we’ll allow you to determine whether that’s relevant to the story at large.

“It’s amazing that no one has discovered this ‘tradition’ before, and that no patent office told them a long time ago to stop doing that once and for all,” he said of the wording. “Patent applications are not meant to be propaganda instruments for console warriors.”

In an unbelievable blog post, Mueller goes on to outline the correct etiquette for patent applications, suggesting that it’s acceptable for organisations to outline why their inventions may be superior to other products, but “calling competitors generally ‘inferior’ is gratuitous, stupid, childish,