British Telecom sues Google

[Bateluer]

http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/1...llegedly-infringed-by-android-other-services/

Over alleged infringement.

BT is out for blood, seeking damages as well as an injunction over patents ranging from "Service Provision System for Communications Networks" to "Storage and Retrieval of Location Based Information in a Distributed Network of Data Storage Services." Among the services named as prime examples of infringement are Google Maps, Places, Offers, Music, Location-based advertising, Google+, and of course Android.

Same-o, same-o though, just as baseless as MS vs Google and Apple vs Everyone. These 'Me too!' lawsuits need to stop.

Especially since most of the services they're suing over have been out for years now.

 

[alent1234]

i bet these are a normal part of business just to get your patents recognized as official

 

[zsdersw]

What's all this, then? "Bitish" Telecom?

 

[Oyeve]

What's all this, then? "Bitish" Telecom?

Those damn Bits!

 

[Bateluer]

What's all this, then? "Bitish" Telecom?

Sorry, fixed.

 

[Sheep]

This is the same company that claimed they owned the patent to web hyperlinks.

 

[Bateluer]

This is the same company that claimed they owned the patent to web hyperlinks.

Wat, really? Got a link to that?

 

[Mark R]

Wat, really? Got a link to that?

Here you go

It is worth pointing out that the BT hyperlink patent was filed in 1976, and granted in 1989. It was subsequently forgotten about as irrelevant, but a routine re-cataloguing of BT's patents "re-discovered" it in 2000.

The reason for BT's claim was not, on the face of it, that unreasonable.
The patent was for a system of storing data on a mainframe computer for access by multiple users, such that the data given to the users contained address references to additional blocks of data. (In other words, a "hyperlink" to the additional blocks of data).

The judge threw out the case on the basis that the world wide web was not a "central computer", but was distributed.

 

[Mopetar]

At least they're not suing in East Texas, so it's not as if BT are being complete jackasses.