It looks like BTG plc has licensed a patent from Teleshuttle Technologies LLC related to Web-enabled software update technologies - and they are suing.

Allegedly, Apple Computer Inc. and Microsoft Corp are using these technologies without a license. Go figure.

How the patent itself came to be, I do not know. It seems like a rather silly patent, where any updates of anything could be covered, and that makes little sense to this lowly sane person. Technically speaking, RSS feeds could be covered by such a patent.

Though it breaks my heart to see Microsoft and Apple getting sued, I do hope they win - otherwise the cost of the web is about to go up.