tl;dr: Rackspace is taking one for the team by trying to invalidate a patent that an alleged patent troll claims covers the ability for mobile displays to rotate as the device turns.
Rackspace is a cloud computing provider and right now they're taking a challenge to fight against patent trolls. I think that's a decently noble cause, since patent trolls seem to be the most difficult to deal with, and most frustrating.
Currently, they're trying to challenge the validity of a patent: Rotatable Technologies, which is suring anyone in mobile apps that use rotating screen displays. And yes, that is pretty much how many and most screens operate in smartphones.
You can read about the detailed the legal challenge in a blog post here and its petition to the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Rackspace got trolled by getting sued by this Rotatable company along with some other big names, and then were offered to settle the claim for less than 75k. Rackspace wasn't having any of that and used " a legal theory called patent exhaustion, patent holders who sue and lose or settle with and grant a license to upstream defendants (e.g., OS or device manufacturers in this case) can’t then go after downstream users such as Rackspace or Whole Foods. "
Rackspace has stood up to many other trolls before, so kudos to them for their brave stances. If you'd like to know about their other defenses, read the article because there are many instances.
For fun here's an image:
One of many pieces of evidence in the Rackspace petition.
Rackspace commented that they want to start a movement against patent trolls, and I'm all for that.
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