Filing date doesn't matter... it's the priority date. This patent was filed as a continuation of a much older patent, so you have to look much further back to find your killer prior art.

The real reason Sony is shutting down the game? They discovered it occasionally caused sudden onset of acute Tourettes syndrome.

You are confusing two things here. An interference proceeding is used if two parties are trying to get the patent, both claiming to be the inventor. If you are being sued for infringement for something you have been doing all along, your defense is not "interference", it is "invalidity". A patent is only valid if it is, among other things, novel. If you were doing this or using this before the filing date of the patent, and can prove it, they're boned.

Sony announced their launch of a new line of network security products

Wait... are you saying Zuckerberg tore the spine out of a beached whale, then ate it?

Now, if the title was "Robot Throws First PUNCH At Phillies Game", we'd have a real story on our hands.

I'm going to make a batch of steamed hams, and watch the show!

And I wonder who will pull the trigger on this... Apple or Amazon?

are they going to lock out the Kindle iPhone application from running on the iPad?

They're not exactly thrilled about them now...

Patent prosecution (writing patents) requires you pass the US patent bar, which is different from a state bar. To sit for the patent bar, you must have an engineering/science degree. Patent litigation, however, only requires you be certified by the bar of the state in which you are practicing; Patent Bar and technical degrees are not required. You can also take the patent bar w/o going to law school, and become a patent agent. Still need the technical background, though.

But they HAVE added them... you can't see a monkey from the fifth dimension until it is too late. That's why they're so dangerous.

White text on a black screen? That IS a crime...

... anyone?

Have a naked lan party! Nudity leaves the participants with nowhere to hide stolen items... well, almost nowhere.