Dialogue wheel / conversation interface for branching NPC dialogue
The radial dialogue-choice wheel — Mass Effect's signature conversation UI — is patented and active for a few more years yet.
US8082499B2 · Electronic Arts Inc. · Estimated expiry 2029
EA's dialogue wheel — the radial menu of conversational tones and choices used across the Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises — is covered by US8082499B2, estimated to run through 2029.
It's a comparatively short wait compared to most of this wing: three years out, give or take, before radial branching-dialogue UI is unambiguously free for anyone to build without asking.
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Are these game-mechanic patents part of the trading corpus?
No. The gaming wing sits outside the 13,862-patent trading corpus the rest of the site is built on. These facts are tracked by hand from public patent and news sources, not pulled from our database.
Does a patent on a game mechanic stop others from making similar games?
A patent covers the specific system its claims describe, not a whole genre. Mechanics that predate the patent or differ from the claims may be fine; whether a specific design infringes is a fact-specific legal question. This isn't legal advice.
Can I use the expired ones freely?
Once a patent's term ends or it lapses, the claimed mechanic generally becomes free to implement without a license. Other rights may still apply to a specific game, and this is general information only.