Patents Lined Up To Be Shot

Legal Issues

from the knock-'em-down dept

Considering the number of “bad patent” posts around here, it’s good to know that someone is trying to do something about them… The EFF has put together a list of 10 all-around awful patents and will try, one-by-one to take them all down (or at least get them modified). To pick the list, the EFF went after not only bad patents, but bad patents that are being abused by the companies that own them. Number one on the list is everyone’s favorite patent from Acacia concerning “the transmission and receipt of digital content via the Internet, cable, satellite and other means.” They’ve been attacking plenty of companies, big and small, to try to suck out license fees. Second on the list is Clear Channel’s patent on live recordings. The list is made up of plenty of small patent hoarding firms, but also has a few big companies (like Clear Channel) thrown in for good measure. One of the more ridiculous ones listed is a company that claims to hold patents on VoIP technology. Instead of going after companies actually making VoIP technology, they’re sending the patent to investors to scare them off. Hopefully, the EFF can actually do something about this list, but knowing our patent system, it’s going to be a long, uphill battle.