This from GigaOm on a legal complaint claiming patent violations in android. This claim, if supported, would adversely impact Google and Samsung. The patents were purchased from Nortel (now out of business). This a classic case of patents that are more than a dozen years from a company that no longer exists being used as a weapon by new companies. The legal challenge is being brought in a rural Texas district known to be in agreement with claims of a similar nature. Whether confirmed long term or not, these complaints will cost millions to work through the system.
Google search methodology also involved in dispute
The complaint against Google involves six patents, all from the same patent “family.” They’re all titled “associative search engine” and list Richard Skillen and Prescott Livermore as inventors. The patents describe “an advertisement machine which provides advertisements to a user searching for desired information within a data network.” (arstechnica)