Patent trollin’: Apple sued over a Messages feature

Another day, another lawsuit. As noted by AppleInsider, Hypertext Technologies, a non-practicing entity, is suing Apple for, of course, patent violations.

The patent troll claims Apple its patents in regard to Messages support for SMS embedded links. Filed with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Hypertext’s complaint against Apple hinges on U.S. Patent No. 7,113,801 for a “Method for receiving data using SMS and wireless internet and system thereof.”

A “patent troll” is an individual or an organization that purchases and holds patents for unscrupulous purposes such as stifling competition or launching patent infringement suits. In legal terms, a patent troll is a type of non-practicing entity: someone who holds a patent but is not involved in the design or manufacture of any product or process associated with that patent.