Google Talk's patent troubles

Ars Technica is reporting that Deleware patent farm Rates Technology, Inc. has filed a lawsuit against Google, claiming that the VoIP capabilities of Google Talk violate its patents. "The patents focus on the use of a centralized database with pricing information for the purposes of determining the cheapest phone call carrier on the fly," says Ars, and RTI claims it has over 700 licensees for its telecom patents and has been to court 25 times. Google says, "We believe the lawsuit is without merit and we will defend against it vigorously," and I personally don't expect this to go to well for RTI, but it will be interesting to watch. Google and RTI will meet in court in early February.

Tags: google, google talk, law, legal, patent, rates technology, rti, software patents, voip