British Military Claims Patent on GPS

[+eusty]

Not sure if it's been mentioned before, or even if it's has any validity.

 

Anyway read here about it as it's too long to post it all.

 

Like most patent disputes it will probably fade away.....

 

[+taeke]

The manufacturers response will probably be to ditch Galileo on personal devices and use Glonass and Beidou (if it will ever attain world coverage).

Edited May 1, 2012 by taeke

[+ecanderson]

No problem. This patent will die a "prior art" death. Check MITRE patents.

[+dprovan]

In the private sector, this kind of thing happens all the time. Typically the validity of the claim is not as important as whether enough companies will pay because the legal battle would be more expensive. One thing that makes this more interesting than normal is that -- if I'm following this correctly -- it's literally the British government that's trying to shake everyone down. That's a novel way for a government to increase revenues! Lots of big guns seem to be lined up, so this could be quite fun.