UPDATED 08:00 EDT / SEPTEMBER 23 2014

Rackspace takes another scalp in its crusade against patent trolls

small__4811176247Rackspace, which has taken on the mantle of ‘crusader’ against patent trolls, has just scored another crucial victory. But rather than just challenging the validity of the troll’s claims, this time round it’s actually managed to get one patent invalidated.

“Rotatable Technologies is now an ex-patent troll,” beamed Van Lindberg, Rackspace’s VP of intellectual property, in a blog post. “I say ‘ex-troll’ because its patent, US Pat. No. 6,326,978, has been declared unpatentable by the US Patent and Trademark Office in response to a challenge … filed by Rackspace.”

Rotatable’s patent was indeed rather questionable from the description outlined in the paperwork. The patent covers supposedly revolutionary technology that ensures the graphics on your display stay the right side up when you tilt or rotate it. Basically, it does what every single mobile phone with an accelerometer can do. Clearly then, Rotatable was a bit foolish in taking on someone like Rackspace – a company that never backs down to trolls – whose mobile phone apps make use of the feature.

Rotatable demanded Rackspace pay it $75,000 for using “its technology” or else face the full fury of a lawsuit. Rackspace refused to cough up, and instead claimed Rotatable’s patent was invalid through a procedure known as Inter Partes Review.

As Lindberg explains: “It’s Rackspace policy to not pay off patent trolls, even if it costs us more to fight.”

Rotatable soon realized it had bitten off more than it could chew with Rackspace, but by then it was too late. “Eventually Rotatable offered to just walk away,” Lindberg continued. “But we refused again. Just as we promised last year, we challenged the patent and the USPTO invalidated it.”

Before taking on Rackspace, Rotatable had sued a number of other technology firms, including Apple Inc., Electronic Arts, Netflix and others – but the ruling means all of these cases have been lost.

Now, Rackspace is hoping this example will encourage other companies to step forward and take the fight to the patent trolls, rather than just paying up each time.

“Without changes in the law we believe that the only way to end the plague of patent trolls is by fighting every troll that comes at us – and we encourage all others to do the same,” said Lindberg.

photo credit: chiaralily via photopin cc

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