Patent holding firm sues everyone over international SMS
Every time you send a text message to someone in another country, a Maryland man dies a little bit inside. The obviously-named Technology Patents LLC, a patent firm run out of Maryland, says that it holds jurisdiction over every international SMS sent or received in its home state thanks to a pair of recently-awarded patents that cover routing of text messages across the internet as they travel from country A to country B. Naturally, there are boatloads of operators that can send an SMS to Maryland and several that can send 'em from Maryland, so yeah, pretty much everyone is getting sued -- a whopping 131 companies in total. Fortunately, Technology Patents LLC isn't asking for much; it wants nothing more than a permanent injunction against all US carriers from sending or receiving international text messages along with a big wheelbarrow full of cash for its troubles. For what it's worth, the dude running this firm apparently has a spotty past with more than his fair share of legal run-ins, so we're not getting too worried yet. Just in case, though, y'all may as well check to make sure you're not named on that list of 131.
[Via textually.org]
