Worlds.com is the company that appeared capable of changing the virtual worlds in all MMOs forever since they claim that they hold a patent for enabling users to interact in virtual worlds. Although they initially targeted NCSoft’s Guild Wars, but other big wigs like World of Warcraft or Second Life were (and still are, at least in theory) in danger of being shut down or having to pay huge sums to Worlds.com to continue to exist.

Actually, every MMO in the world in which interactive virtual environments exist could be targeted in the future if Worlds.com’s patent is valid. However, it seems that things are not as easy as the website first thought: according to an Article One finding, the patent is invalid.

On the official website of Article One we can read: “Article One Partners, a global community working to legitimize the validity of patents, announces the outcome of a Patent Validity Study on Worlds.com U.S. Patent No. 7,181,690, for enabling users to interact in virtual spaces. Worlds.com has alleged that the patent is infringed by NCSoft and its Guild Wars games, as well as others that use avatars in virtual worlds and massive multi-player online games. With verification of outside counsel, Article One Partners has identified prior art that can show the Worlds.com patent to be invalid. The winning Advisor has asked to remain anonymous.”

For now, there is no reaction from Worlds.com, but we’ll let you know as soon as we find out something new.