Ric Richardson

Ric Richardson is an Australian Inventor recognised for his early invention of a form of Product activation used in anti-piracy. He is the inventor of record for a number of U.S. patents, including the Uniloc patent US5490216 and the Logarex patent 6400293. Richardson grew up in Sydney and currently resides in Byron Bay.

Frederick "Ric" Richardson
Born1962
Sydney, Australia
NationalityAustralian
OccupationInventor, founder
Known forSettling a large patent infringement case against Microsoft
Spouse(s)Karen Richardson
ChildrenLily Richardson

He founded Uniloc to commercialise[1] his invention and in 2003 it became a licensing company that has sought to license some of the patents he is a named inventor of, from as early as 1992. The machine fingerprinting technology is used to stop copyright infringement; it was developed as Richardson worked on his own software called One-Step and later Truetime. He is now an independent inventor, and is seeking to develop technologies including ship designs, shark warning systems[2] and password replacement technology.[3]

Microsoft court case

In Uniloc USA, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp., a jury awarded Uniloc US$388 million against Microsoft for their infringement of a product activation patent licensed to Uniloc.[4] The application before the court to go to trial was originally blocked by a summary judgement for Microsoft.[5] A jury found that Microsoft products Windows XP, Office XP, and Windows Server 2003 infringed the Uniloc patent.[5] They found damages and found that Microsoft's conduct was willful. The presiding U.S. District Court Judge William Smith disagreed as a matter of law, overturning the jury's verdict and ruling in favour of Microsoft.[6] This ruling was appealed, and reversed.[7] Microsoft later settled, paying an undisclosed amount.[8]

Profile as an Australian Inventor

As a result of the publicity surrounding the case, Richardson has been the subject of two Australian Story episodes. The first called "The Big Deal" aired in August 2009 and covered the initial win of $388 million by a jury in Rhode Island. The second entitled "A Done Deal" aired in April 2012 and covered the subsequent ups and down that followed the original story culminating in the eventual settlement with Microsoft.

As a result of the widespread support for his successful infringement action, Richardson makes a practise of spending time free of charge with inventors who appreciate his time on Friday mornings in cafés in and around Byron Bay. He has also initiated a number of local invention projects to solve local problems such as the shark attack issue in Byron Bay.[9] Richardson is working on a solution that uses standard sonar systems in an early warning matrix that alerts beach users of the proximity of large animals in the immediate vicinity. The advantage is that the only animals over 2.5 metres long in the waters near Byron Bay are large turtles, whales, manta rays or sharks.

Haventec
Haventec Pty Ltd
Haventec
IndustryEncryption and Network Security
Founded2016
Founder
  • Ric Richardson
  • Tony Castagna
Headquarters
Sydney, Australia
,
Australia
ProductsAuthentication and Personal Data security software
Websitewww.haventec.com

In 2016, Richardson cofounded a security technology company called Haventec[10] with Nuix chairman and interim CEO, Anthony "Tony" Castagna. The company is commercialising an invention by Richardson that uses public keys in combination with a one-time password technique to remove passwords from being stored or used on enterprise networks.

Another of Richardson's patented inventions is being used[11] by the company to allow consumers to automatically enter credit card details using a technique that is more secure and reliable than browser technologies such as Chrome Auto-complete but does not require the credit card details to be stored on the merchant's servers.

Richardson's password-less authentication and one-click payment systems both rely on a concept of reducing the opportunity for hackers to infiltrate an enterprise system.[10]

See also

References
  1. "ABC National News announces Uniloc deal with IBM". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  2. Elloise Farrow-Smith (27 December 2015). "Byron Bay residents test shark sonar in bid to keep surfers safe". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 26 August 2009.
  3. Andrew Colley. "Microsoft patent victor Ric Richardson working on no-password security breakthrough". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  4. "Australian Story - The Big Deal - Transcript". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 24 August 2009. Retrieved 25 August 2009.
  5. Renai LeMay and Ina Fried (15 April 2009). "Aussie first wins US$388m MS suit". ZDNet Australia. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 6 September 2009.
  6. Moses, Asher (30 September 2009). "Aussie inventor's $445m Microsoft windfall wiped out". The Age. Melbourne. Retrieved 7 November 2009.
  7. Moses, Asher (8 January 2011). "Inventor wins Microsoft appeal". The Age. Melbourne. Retrieved 7 October 2011.
  8. "Ric Richardson wins multi-million dollar legal battle with Microsoft". news.com.au. 15 March 2012.
  9. "Shark sonar is on Byron Bay inventor's radar". ABC News. 17 September 2015. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  10. "Aussie security start-up Haventec ponders IPO after big wins". Financial Review. 10 October 2016. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  11. Colley, Andrew (22 September 2016). "New one-click payment system could change internet transactions". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
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