Worlds Incorporated

Biographies

Thomas Kidrin

Mr. Thomas Kidrin serves as President, Chief Executive Officer, Treasurer, Secretary and Director of Worlds Inc. He has been president, secretary and treasurer from December 1997 through July 2007 then added the title chief executive officer since August 2007. Mr. Kidrin was also president and a director of Worlds Acquisition Corp. from April 1997 to December 1997. He has been the chairman and president of Datastream Corporation, a designer and developer of interactive products and services, since 1993. From December 1991 to June 1996, Mr. Kidrin was a founder, director, and President of UC Television Network Corp., a company engaged in the design and manufacture of interactive entertainment/advertising networks in the college market under the brand name College Television Network, the private network on college campuses in the United States sold to MTV in 1996 now operating under MTVU. Mr. Kidrin has attended Drake University and the New School of Social Research.

Christopher Ryan

Mr. Christopher J. Ryan serves as Vice President- Finance, Principal Accounting and Chief Financial Officer of Worlds Inc. He has been Vice President-Finance since May 2000 and principal accounting and finance officer since August 2000. From August 1991 through April 2000, Mr. Ryan held a variety of financial management positions at Reuters America, an information services company. From 2001 through 2003, Mr. Ryan was the founder and President of CJR Advisory Services, a personal corporation through which he provided financial consulting services to various entities. Since 2004, Mr. Ryan has been the VP Finance of Peminic, Inc. Mr. Ryan is an inactive certified public accountant. He is a graduate of Montclair State University in New Jersey and received an M.B.A. degree from Fordham University in New York.

Robert Fireman

Mr. Robert N. Fireman serves as an Independent Director of Worlds Inc. Mr. Fireman was a founder and former Director and General Manager of SmartSource Direct, Inc., a subsidiary of News America Marketing (News Corp). Mr. Fireman was responsible for the development, marketing and distribution of card-based loyalty, financial, and database products & services in retail, grocery and drug store chains encompassing over 50,000 stores throughout the U.S. Mr. Fireman has been a practicing attorney for over 25 years and is the managing attorney of Fireman & Associates LLP.

Bernard Stolar

Mr. Bernard Stolar serves as an Independent Director of Worlds Inc. Mr. Stolar has served in high profile leadership roles at publicly and privately held interactive entertainment companies. Currently, Mr. Stolar is Dean of Games and Game Evangelist for Google, Inc. From February 2006 until its purchase by Google, Inc. in February 2007, Mr. Stolar was the Chairman of the Board of Adscape Media. Prior to this, he was president and chief operating office of BAM! Entertainment, where he transformed the company from a hand-held content company to a developer and marketer of interactive entertainment for next generation video game consoles. In 2000, Mr. Stolar joined Mattel, Inc. as president of Mattel Interactive, where he was responsible for directing and reorganizing the $1 billion Mattel Interactive division. From 1996 to 1999, Mr. Stolar served as president and chief operating officer of Sega of America, Inc. Mr. Stolar also served as executive vice president of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, where he was a key leader of the Sony Playstation® launch team, directing all third-party publishing in the U.S. Prior to that, Mr. Stolar served as president of Atari America's game division.

History / Timeline

  • April 1994 Worlds Inc. was spun out of Bill Gross's Knowledge Adventure; an educational software publisher that grew to be the third largest educational software publisher in the world and was initially know as Knowledge Adventure Worlds. Titles included; Dinosaurs 3D, 3D Body and Undersea Adventure.
  • October 3, 1994 Worlds announces partnership with Steven Spielberg, Starbright Foundation, Sprint, UB Networks, Tandem, and Intel to create an avatar virtual world for kids confined to hospitals, Starbright World. The worlds came online at five pediatric hospitals in the United States in June 1995.
  • April 1995 Worlds Chat was launched and the company name was changed to Worlds Inc.
  • November 13, 1995 Worlds files for patent application of a Scalable virtual world chat client-server system.
  • 1996-97 under contract Worlds developed private worlds for IBM, Visa, MGM, Sony, Nissho Iwai, Toppan Printing, Disney and others.
  • 1996 Worlds launched Alpha Worlds now known as Active Worlds which had nearly everything that Second Life now does.
  • Nov. 1997 Worlds Inc. was acquired by Worlds Acquisition Corporation and changed the name to Worlds.com
  • Between 1998 and 2001 Worlds developed and launched the following worlds in revenue sharing partnerships with the following brands: Universal Pictures Animal House, Polygram, Hanson, David Bowie, NY Yankees, British Telecom, World Wrestling Federation, Aerosmith and Coca Cola China.
  • Across all Worlds 3D network of worlds the registered user base reached over 1,000,000 by the end of 2001.
  • August 3, 2000 Worlds filed additional claims as a continuance to our 1995 patent application.
  • April 17, 2001 US Patent 6219045 issued for Scalable virtual world chat client-server system.
  • June 2001 Worlds terminated all full time employees as a result of the .com bust and resulting internet market meltdown. The company continued to maintain its service as well as continued software development on an as needed basis and under contract licenses. Most employees continued to work on a volunteer basis.
  • February 20, 2007 patent 7,181,690 System and method for enabling users to interact in a virtual space issued as a continuation of patent 6219045.
  • September 2007 Worlds began a restructure which entailed a new Board to bring the company back into SEC compliance and to upgrading the core technology platform.
  • November 2007 Worlds signs a private development agreement with MTV.
  • July 7, 2008 Worlds signed Rapper DMC of Run DMC to develop DMC World set to launch early 2009.
  • December 11, 2008 Worlds retained Lerner David Littenberg Krumholz & Mentlik LLP (LDLKM), to enforce Worlds' patents.
  • December 24, 2008 Lerner David Littenberg Krumholz & Mentlik LLP files patent enforcement action against NC Soft on behalf of Worlds.
  • April 2, 2010 Lerner David Littenberg Krumholz & Mentlik LLP settles patent enforcement action against NC Soft on behalf of Worlds.
  • May 14, 2011 Worlds 4th US patent 7, 945,856 is issued over prior art presented in NC Soft litigation
  • December 20, 2011 Worlds 5th US patent 8, 082,501 is issued over prior art presented in NC Soft litigation
  • February 12, 2012  Susman Godfrey LLP signs agreement to represent Worlds Inc. in patent enforcement actions.
  • March 27, 2012 Worlds 6th US patent 8, 145,998 is issued over prior art presented in NC Soft litigation
  • March 30, 2012 Susman Godfrey LLP files patent enforcement action against Activision Blizzard on behalf of Worlds Inc.
  • April 17, 2012 Worlds 7th US patent 8,161,385 is issued over prior art presented in NC Soft litigation
  • March 26, 2013 Worlds 8 th US patent 8,407,592 is issued over prior art presented in NC Soft litigation
  • October 3 2014 The Markman hearing for the patent infringement suit by Worlds Inc. against Activision Blizzard, Inc., Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. and Activision Publishing, Inc. (Activision Blizzard et al) (ATVI), was held to address various aspects of the infringement suit claims and how the words in the 11 disputed "constructions" in the claims should be construed for jury consideration. The additional purpose is for the court to determine the meaning and intent of the language used in the claims.
  • January 28, 2014, Worlds 9 th US patent 8,640,028 is issued over prior art presented in NC Soft litigation.
  • June 26, 2015 Worlds receives a favorable Markman Order from Judge Denise Casper of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts on June 26 th related to its patent infringement lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, Inc., Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. and Activision Publishing, Inc. (Activision et al)
  • August 18, 2015, Worlds 10 th US patent 9,110,567 is issued over prior art presented in NC Soft litigation
  • November 30, 2015 – The USPTO institutes an Inter Party Review (IPR) on Worlds patents as filed by Bungie Inc. Worlds formal response due March 15, 2016, oral arguments before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) scheduled for August 10, 2016 with a final ruling to issue by November 30, 2016.
  • February 11, 2016 U.S. District Judge Denise J. Casper entered order granting Motion to Stay pending IPR proceedings for 3 months. Counsel to file joint status reports.
  • Mar 16, 2016 - Worlds. filed replies to the six Inter Partes Reviews (IPRs) instituted by the United States Patent & Trademark Office's (USPTO) Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) at the request of petitioner Bungie Inc. The Worlds patents subject to the IPRs are also at the center of a patent infringement lawsuit filed by Worlds against Activision Blizzard Inc. et al. According to the LA Times, Bungie Inc. has a multi-year contract with Activision and Activision has a seat on Bungie's board of Directors.
  • November 30, 2016 The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) validates six patent claims by Worlds Inc. following Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) review of World's seminal technology that has been fundamental to the development of massively multiplayer online role-playing gaming (MMORPG) into a $20-billion dollar industry. Validated claims were: Claims 4, 8, 13, and 16 of Patent 7,181,690 B1 - IPR2015-01268 and claims 5 and 7 of Patent 7,493,558 B2 - IPR2015-01269. Awaiting the PTAB's final ruling on case # IPR2015-01319 for patent, # 8,082,501.
  • Dec 1, 2016 - The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (PTAB) validated six patent claims by Worlds Inc. following Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) Validated claims were: Claims 4, 8, 13, and 16 of Patent 7,181,690 B1 - IPR2015-01268 and claims 5 and 7 of Patent 7,493,558 B2 - IPR2015-01269.
  • January 12, 2017, February 7, 2017, and January 30, 2017, respectively, the Company appealed the outcomes in IPR2015-01264, IPR2015-01319, and IPR2015-01321 to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“CAFC”). These three cases have been consolidated.
  • January 22, 2018 the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“CAFC”) has scheduled oral arguments for March 9, 2018
  • March 9, 2018 Worlds Inc.’s (OTCQB:WDDD) oral argument in its appeal of threeInter Partes Review (IPR) decisions issued in 2016 from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office Patent Trial & Appeal Board (USPTO PTAB), was held before U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC). All three of the judges handling Worlds’ appeal, Chief Judge Prost, Judge O’Malley, and Judge Taranto, were in the majority opinion in an earlier case, Wi-Fi One, LLC v. Broadcom Corp., in which the CAFC confirmed that patent owners could appeal whether an IPR petition was filed too late under the law.
  • Sept. 7, 2018 - The latest win for Worlds came on Sept. 7, 2018 when the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a favorable ruling on Worlds’ behalf in the matter of Worlds Inc. v. Bungie, Inc. The ruling, written by the Chief Judge of the CAFC, vacated the USPTO’s Patent and Trial Board’s invalidity rulings against three of Worlds’ patents, and remanded these cases back to the PTAB with instructions to re-evaluate whether Bungie was permitted to even file its petitions for inter partes review (IPR) of Worlds’ patents.