Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Patent-holding company TQP Development made millions claiming that it owned a breakthrough in Web encryption, even though most encryption experts had never heard of the company until it started a massive campaign of lawsuits. Yesterday, the company's litigation campaign was brought to an end when a panel of appeals judges refused (PDF) to give TQP a second chance to collect on a jury verdict against Newegg.
The TQP patent was invented by Michael Jones, whose company Telequip briefly sold a kind of encrypted modem. The company sold about 30 models before the modem business went bust. Famed patent enforcer Erich Spangenberg bought the TQP patent in 2008 and began filing lawsuits, saying that the Jones patent actually entitled him to royalties on a basic form of SSL Internet encryption. Spangenberg and Jones ultimately made more than $45 million from the patent.
TQP appealed its case, and oral arguments were heard at the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on February 8. Yesterday, the three-judge panel found in Newegg's favor, issuing a short two-page order that did not explain its reasoning. While TQP could theoretically still appeal to the full Federal Circuit or to the Supreme Court, it's far from clear there's any legal issue in the case that would compel either of those bodies to take the case.
-- submitted from IRC
Related Stories
Newegg has been hacked (archive). If you bought anything on Newegg.com between August 13th and September 18th, get a new credit card:
Newegg is investigating a data breach that may have compromised credit card details and other information about its customers, though the full extent of the damage is not yet known.
"Yesterday, we learned one of our servers had been injected with malware which may have allowed some of your information to be acquired or accessed by a third party," Newegg CEO Danny Lee states in an email being sent out to potentially affected customers." The malware was quite sophisticated and we are conducting extensive research to determine exactly what information may have been acquired or accessed and how many customers may have been impacted."
[...] Researchers from RiskIQ and Volexity say the attackers installed credit card skimming malware onto Newegg's website. They injected the malicious code into Newegg's payment processing page, basically hiding in plain site for more than a month, the researchers say.
The stolen credit card data was then sent to a drop server on a domain the hackers had registered, initially parked at neweggstats.com. They obtained a security certificate for the site from Comodo so that it appeared legitimate.
takyon: A news search for "Newegg" finds numerous examples of PC Gamer directing its readers to the site for deals (and steals?) during the breach period.
Also at Ars Technica and The Verge.
Previously: Encryption Patent That Roiled Newegg is Dead on Appeal
Newegg Is Being Sued for Allegedly Engaging in Massive Fraud
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 01 2017, @09:17AM (3 children)
I have four patents to my name, albeit a major oil company I worked for at the time owns them.
We had patented these as a guarantee that some patent troll ( like what this story is all about ) could not nail us for coming up with this way of solving our problem, then hold us hostage for doing it.
It was built on prior art, just as damn near every other "invention" is. I oughta know. I was the "inventor".
To the best of my knowledge, the company never went after anyone else for making something similar. We simply aren't in the business to tell someone else they can't solve their problem the same way we did.
Patent trolls like this just make me sick. Its really getting to be a pain in the ass to be forced to obfuscate any contribution I may make toward advancement of humanity in order to try to shield myself or my employers from this kind of dirty pool.
When I was being educated, it curried much favor amongst my educators to foster in me a sense of curiosity and a drive to do things.... however my own Congress seems all poised to pen law backing those who will tell me to do nothing, be quiet, and do not investigate how things work. Just consume.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday March 01 2017, @09:38AM
Giving info away [soylentnews.org] instead of selling products is one way to get around it.
In cases where that isn't feasible... good luck dealing with trolls or Congress.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by mcgrew on Wednesday March 01 2017, @04:36PM
It was built on prior art, just as damn near every other "invention" is.
No need to put "invention" in quotes, because that's what invention is. Like Newton said, quoting someone who lived over five hundred years earlier, "If I see further than other men, it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants."
The arts are like that as well; the new is always built on the old. Imagine how technological progress would suffer if patents lasted as long as copyrights? That's how literature and especially music are suffering. Just be glad the Bono Act didn't cover hardware!
That law should have never been passed, and should be repealed.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Sourcery42 on Wednesday March 01 2017, @05:40PM
I have my name on a patent too. In my eyes it was ridiculous. It is for a "novel combination of existing technologies." My experience mirrors yours in that the company owns it and it was essentially a cover your ass exercise. The worst part about it was working with the patent attorneys. Those guys are complete slimeballs. The worst lawyers I have ever crossed paths with. Their incentives and ways of doing things just comes across as perverse to those who tend to work more with technology than weasel words. It was quite possibly the most distasteful thing I've had to do in my professional career.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 01 2017, @12:54PM (3 children)
Michael Jones: Non jew who invented something that perhaps was useful at some point.
Erich Spangenberg: jew who bought patent and proceeds to rob people of their hard earned money through jewery.
Go ahead. Mod me down. But deep down, you know I am right. Unfortunatly society and its jewish influence tells you otherwise. Time to wake up.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 01 2017, @01:37PM (1 child)
Here Troll Troll Troll.
Come here boy.
That's a gooood Troll.
Would the Troll like some num num's ?
Good boy !
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 01 2017, @02:16PM
I would not like some num num's [sic], but I would like the part of my manhood that was amputated at birth back.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Paradise Pete on Wednesday March 01 2017, @02:25PM
Deep down, you are a sad individual.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Wednesday March 01 2017, @04:30PM (1 child)
You need to hit that space key harder--there is no such word as "downunder". If in fact you thought it was a valid word, you might want to double check a dictionary (one that is non-urban).
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Thursday March 02 2017, @01:11AM
Typo in the summary
When making such a post, it's a good idea to quote the typo in question. If what you point out is in fact an error, and it's corrected, that means that the error will disappear from the summary, leaving your comment as a non-sequitur down below a summary that it doesn't apply to.
there is no such word as "downunder".
Neither the summary nor the original submission contains the word "down," the word "under," or the word "downunder." There's no way to tell what this post is/was referring to.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 01 2017, @06:51PM
More then I'll see in my lifetime.