Micropatent was a subsidiary of the Thomson Corporation (now Thomson Reuters). It was a commercial source for online patent and trademark information. The service offered a searchable collection of full text patent data, including patent documents from France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, the European Patent Office and the World Intellectual Property Organization.[1]
In 2004, hacker Myron Tereshchuk attempted to extort $17 million from Micropatent by threatening to release confidential information and launch a DDOS attack. Tereschuk was arrested by the FBI in a raid which uncovered "components for hand grenades, the formula and items necessary for making Ricin, and literature about poisons" in his possession.[2][3]
References
- ^ "Patsearch Fulltext Database Coverage". micropat.com. Archived from the original on 2005-02-04. Retrieved 2014-01-29.
- ^ US Dept. Of Justice Press Release Archived 2013-04-15 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ FBI WMD case listing