Google Talk Targeted In Patent Lawsuit

Posted by Zonk on Friday December 30, 2005 @04:37AM from the suing-is-such-a-noble-business dept.

JamesAlfaro wrote to mention an Ars Technica story, which goes into the recent filing of a suit against Google Talk. A Delaware corporation claims that Talk infringes on two of its patents. From the article: "You've probably never heard of Rates Technology Inc. (RTI), and that wouldn't be surprising since the company has no products and offers no services. By all appearances, RTI is a company that was set up to collect licensing fees and pursue settlements related to the company's patent portfolio. Gerald J. Weinberger, president of Rates technology Inc., once said that the company was 'an enterprise based on patent licensing,' and that much of its business depended on the courts." Certainly seems like there are a lot of those businesses around nowadays, huh?

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Re:Who does the law protect? by 110010001000 · 2005-12-30 05:01 · Score: 1, Flamebait

Um, explain then how the majority of innovations come from countries with high protection for IP (including patents) and countries with poor protection produce virtually none? I know slashbots don't believe this, but without patent (and other IP) protection you would see the pace of innovation slow tremendously.

Also, the force of law can certainly protect inventions: this has been proven time and time again. Go try and produce a product based on existing patents - you will see the force of law.

Additionally, you certainly can improve on existing creations, you just need to recompense the originally inventor if required. I do not argue that the existing patent system is working correctly, but the idea of strong IP protection is something that everyone should support.