I have a hard time writing about stories like this one without getting shrill. ZDNet is reporting that Net2Phone is suing Skype for violating its “point-to-point internet protocol” patent.
What does it cover?
A point-to-point Internet protocol exchanges Internet Protocol (IP) addresses between processing units to establish a point-to-point communication link between the processing units through the Internet. A first point-to-point Internet protocol includes the steps of (a) storing in a database a respective IP address of a set of processing units that have an on-line status with respect to the Internet; (b) transmitting a query from a first processing unit to a connection server to determine the on-line status of a second processing unit; and (c) retrieving the IP address of the second unit from the database using the connection server, in response to the determination of a positive on-line status of the second processing unit, for establishing a point-to-point communication link between the first and second processing units through the Internet. A second point-to-point Internet protocol includes the steps of (a) transmitting an E-mail signal, including a first IP address, from a first processing unit; (b) processing the E-mail signal through the Internet to deliver the E-mail signal to a second processing unit; and (c) transmitting a second IP address to the first processing unit for establishing a point-to-point communication link between the first and second processing units through the Internet.
Where to begin? This describes an absolutely pedestrian networking protocol. There’s nothing remotely novel or non-obvious about two computers communicating directly with each other without using a server. I don’t even understand what the “invention” is supposed to be. If you asked a random CS major how to implement a peer-to-peer network application, he’d probably come up with a description like this in about 10 minutes.
Some people seem to think that these kinds of bad software patents are anomalies–that there are good ones as well, and that we ought not to throw the baby out with the bath water. Yet I’ve seen news accounts of more than a dozen examples of bogus patent suits in recent months, but I have yet to see an example of a legitimate software patent. There’s an awful lot of bath water here, and I’m having trouble seeing the baby.
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