Earlier this morning, Capcom decided to sue Koei for infringing upon their patents in roughly 49 titles according to Capcom. The patents they infringed upon included various additions to games, such as how new characters and stages are added to a game, as well as the idea of warning the player of an approaching enemy through a controller rumble.

Capcom asserts that through the use of their patents, Koei has bolstered their sales of titles over the last 12 years. Yes, that’s right, these infringements go back to 2002. The lawsuit mentions the “combining of software to add content,” which likely means the patent is involving the numerous expansion-like games Koei has put out over the years.

Capcom is suing for a total sales-revenue of 9.8 billion Yen, 5-10% in license fees, as well as the stop of sales for several titles. And just so everyone is clear on the amount, we’re looking at 980 Million Yen = 9.4 Million US$ = 7.1 Million Euros. That’s a lot of money – and quite a lot of money for a patent that simply covers additional content.

How do you guys feel about this? Is Capcom simply digging for gold here?