The verdict awards the plaintiff, TQP Development, $2.3 million for patent infringements in the online retailer’s security system. This was despite the fact that the court heard evidence from Ron Rivest and Whitfield Diffie who really did invent the technology before TQP’s patent.
The online retailer told Ars Technica that it would appeal. The company does have the cash to do so and it always promised that even if it lost it would appeal. The fear is that it is possible that almost all technology out there could have some weird, ancient, and wide patent attached to it and companies could be forced to pay over the odds to patent trolls.
This particular patent is a worry because many companies are leaning on encryption to keep the US and UK spies out of their networks. Now it is starting to look like all encryption might fall under TQP’s patent.