US: Patent troll backs out of lawsuit at eleventh hour

Notorious patent toll Lodsys has reportedly settled with its defendant on the eve before the case against the company was scheduled for trial, say reports.

Lodsys sued 55 companies, including Kaspersky Labs, as part of its litigation against technology firms for infringing on patents that allow the retrieval of user feedback from fax machines. Lodsys’ has reportedly made its business through obtaining technology patents and then suing companies that use them, a practice that has given rise to the name “patent troll” to describe such operations.

In a statement on the Kaspersky website, the company says that the other 54 companies have settled with Lodsys, and now Lodsys and Kaspersky Labs have also settled without Kaspersky Labs giving money to Lodsys.

According to reports, Lodsys was suing companies for their use of the fax machine patent as a method to obtain feedback from more modern technologies, such as in-app purchases.

The two-year-old lawsuit was dismissed by the judge with prejudice, say reports; both sides were required to pay their own legal fees.

In its statement, Kaspersky said that the result of the case was that “the troll gave up and ran away with nothing and its tail between its legs.”

Full Content: The Verge

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