8×8 Awarded a Patent for the Analog Telephone Adapter
According to a press release by 8×8, they were awarded US Patent No. 7,092,379 (full text of patent). This patent basically describes what is commonly referred to as an analog terminal adapter, or ATA, which is what takes a normal analog telephone and allows it to talk over the Internet. It took nearly a decade for the US Patent office to actually award this patent, but I’m sure that won’t stop 8×8 from suing other makers of ATAs like Cisco or demanding some sort of royalty payment from them for past usage.
I can’t help but think there must be some prior art to invalidate this patent. Maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part, though.
