Another Ridiculous WiFi Patent -- This Time From Acacia
from the wonderful dept
Remember Acacia? The company that doesn't actually do anything other than buy up patents and try to hold companies hostage for actually innovating? They're the same company that started out by suing porn websites to build a war chest, and more recently have started suing any company offering TV or satellite service for offering "video on demand." It's also the company that is at the very top of the EFF's list of patents that should be invalidated. Well, now they're going after WiFi. Wi-Fi Networking News reports that they've been sending big packages to hotspot operators who use "redirects" to bring you to a login page at the hotspot. If that sounds familiar, that's because another company made similar claims earlier this year. While there are a ton of questions concerning how valid this patent really is, for now, just add this in as the latest in a recent series of stories about all of the patent problems sneaking into WiFi with companies like Wi-LAN and Symbol threatening to make WiFi a lot more expensive. This doesn't seem like the best way to encourage innovation. It seems like the best way to make a small group of lawyers more wealthy.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
