Patent office reviewing VOIP patent

[Kay]

With the EFF nipping at their heels, the Patent Office has agreed to review the validity of this. C2, the current owners, must be nervous in case they have to give back all that cash they got by suing the big companies that were using it.

Thing is, EFF says the patent for a very similar had already been applied for a year earlier, which was granted in 2006.

In 2006, C2 sued all the major U.S. carriers, including AT&T, Verizon and Qwest, alleging they were infringing the patent. All the carriers settled out of court with one-time payments, according to Weintraub.

Patent office to review VoIP patent

[Siegfred]

I doubt they will have to hand the money back over. Most court judgements are final until they're appealed, and most courts don't even look at appeals, especially if they made a solid ruling in the past.

Still, some software patents just cause monopolies, and that's never a good thing.