Patent Troll Stalks Travel Site Hipmunk

Jeff John Roberts, writing for GigaOm:

Despite its high-tech sounding name, i2z is simply a Texas shell company run by a California lawyer that is targeting internet and travel companies including Kayak, Google, Yelp and Microsoft. Under i2z’s business model, known as patent trolling, firms that don’t make anything collect patents in order to extract licensing settlements from companies that do.

In a new twist, trolls have begun laying in wait for start-ups to receive funding before pouncing. That is what happened to hand-crafted goods marketplace Etsy earlier this year.

Bastards.

★ Thursday, 5 July 2012