Monday, November 27, 2006

VOIP Patents, here we go, 2049 of them in USA

In all, the U.S. has to date issued 2,049 patents related to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), a technology that enables low-cost or free calling using the same method that zips e-mail around the Internet.
So where are the battles? They are coming but I think we should find out who and what these patents are? NO, If you knew about the patent you are in violation. Hmmm.
Don't take my advise, I am not a lawyer (IANAL).
But here is the story, According to Businessweek article,

The Patent & Trademark Office is approving patents aplenty for Internet-based calling. On Nov. 14 alone, it handed out a patent on what IBM calls a "conversations computing system," and granted chip maker Intel a patent for a computer-based phone "eliminating the need for a telephone set."

Those were among dozens of patents granted on two separate days in November to companies including Texas Instruments (TXN), Motorola (MOT), and Nokia (NOK). In October, the PTO gave an additional 76 patents to the likes of Qualcomm (QCOM), Nortel (NT), Broadcom (BRCM), Time Warner's AOL (TWX), and NTT DoCoMo (DCM) of Japan.

Patent Battles

As I said they are coming and the article lists some of them already in the process. But Our own Pundit, Jeff Pulver said that
"Chances are, many patent battles will be fought outside the courtroom. Patent holders are likely to use their intellectual property portfolio to extract concessions on cross-licensing deals, where one company may share its VoIP expertise in exchange for use of another company's patented technology, It's certainly going to be something somebody could use against somebody."

Links;
VOIP Patent article on Business week

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