Google Talk Targeted In Patent Lawsuit

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?

Comments

Microsoft at the wheel?

[dbucowboy]

It wouldn't surprise me if Microsoft were somehow involved in this, well behind the scenes of course. Think about it... how easy would it be for MS to find some patents that were close enough to Google technologies and then fund the company that held the patent to sue. The more this happens the less money Google has and the more they start to focus on not getting sued again, which will lower their creative drive (think nay-saying exects, ect.). I'm not SAYING that MS is involved... but would it surprise anybody?