Meet the Lawyer Suing Anyone Who Uses SSL

Sparrowvsrevolution writes "Since 2008, Dallas, Texas attorney Erich Spangenberg and his company TQP have been launching suits against hundreds of firms, claiming that merely by using SSL, they've violated a patent TQP acquired in 2006. Nevermind that the patent was actually filed in 1989, long before the World Wide Web was even invented. So far Spangenberg's targets have included Apple, Google, Intel, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, every major bank and credit card company, and scores of web startups and online retailers, practically anyone who encrypts pages of a web sites to protect users' privacy. And while most of those lawsuits are ongoing, many companies have already settled with TQP rather than take the case to trial, including Apple, Amazon, Dell, and Exxon Mobil. The patent has expired now, but Spangenberg can continue to sue users of SSL for six more years and seems determined to do so as much as possible. 'When the government grants you the right to a patent, they grant you the right to exclude others from using it,' says Spangenberg. 'I don't understand why just because [SSL is] prevalent, it should be free.'"

Re:So

[pla]

Who's up for forming a lynch mob?

I'll bring the torches if you bring the pitchforks...

Re:World Wide Web

[Anonymous Coward]

It makes me wonder if the submitter (and editors) have any idea what SSL is.

As this is Slashdot, you can safely assume that neither do.

A good few...

[aManofFewWords]

You must see the good in this man. He has set up well over 200 companies to make the point that software patents is a bad thing. He even tells this to all the companies and judges he can find. He will finally succeed and software patents will be abolished.

Re:So...

[cultiv8]

He and his wife Audrey, also an IP lawyer, live in a six-bedroom, seven-fireplace mansion worth $9.3 million, according to public records, and bought two half-million dollar condominiums in Las Vegas in 2010.

It would be if baby needs a new pair of shoes.

Re:So

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes.

His mom must be so proud

[Genevish]

When the democrats say, "you didn't build that", maybe they mean this guy?

Re:So

[gman003]

How about "all of the above"?

Re:So

[Anonymous Coward]

Note to self: Patent rope.

Re:So

[gman003]

Actually, wait a second. Lynching all "the politicians who have been dragging their feet on patent reform" is a revolution, not a lynch mob.

The motion has been made to transition this lynch mob to a revolution. Does anyone second the motion?

Re:World Wide Web

[AK Marc]

At least Hitler used encryption, you Nazi.

Re:So

[Anonymous Coward]

Method and Device for Passing Extrajudicial Punishment

1) .. entailing
a) identifying and selecting a plurality of subjects
b) selecting a plurality of suitable vertical objects
c) fixating subjects (a) on objects (b) by means of rope until full termination of respiration

2) Method described in (1), where objects are lamp posts
3) Method described in (1), where objects are trees
4) Method described in (1), where subjects are politicians
5) Method described in (1), where subjects are lawyers
6) Method described in (5), where lawyers deal predominantly with patent issues ...

Re:So

[Anonymous Coward]

I've got the tar.

I've got the .gz!

Re:So

[gman003]

We're not inciting a revolution, we're organizing one. Big difference.

Mainly, we have someone taking minutes.