But Jones didn’t invent SSL; nor did he invent RC4, an algorithm invented in 1987, two years before the filing date of the Jones patent.

Whatever his invention is, it came before the World Wide Web, which was made available to everyone in 1993. Jones filed for his patent in 1989, and it uses some distinctively pre-Web vocabulary; describing encryption via modems and phone lines.

via Newegg hurtles toward Texas showdown with famed “patent troll” | Ars Technica.

By claiming such common encryption, the TQP patent is essentially a “we-own-the-Internet” patent.  Spangenberg declined to speak to Ars for this story, but in an August interview he said the TQP licensing campaign has reaped around $40 million in revenue.