The director of a tiny UK company has apologised after sending letters to businesses suggesting they had infringed his patents that he claimed covered

Brit says sorry after waving around nonce patent and leaning on sites to cough up

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2021-08-27 13:30:02

The director of a tiny UK company has apologised after sending letters to businesses suggesting they had infringed his patents that he claimed covered an age-old web standard.

The tech in question is the content security policy (CSP) mechanism that websites use to protect their visitors from cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks and similar exploits that steal data and hijack accounts. Specifically, the cryptographic nonce feature of CSP to stop unauthorized scripts from running.

Datawing Ltd sent a number of letters to small businesses this month claiming to own one UK and one US patent on CSP and its use of a nonce. After an initial wave of alarm and outrage on Twitter when the letters surfaced, The Register tracked down their author: a penitent William Coppock.

When asked if he was chancing his arm by sending the letters, Coppock immediately said: "Probably, I don't know. I hope people don't see me as a patent troll."