Chicago Tribune being sued for $10 M by patent troll over how it links to stuff

The patent is hilarious http://priorsmart.com/6049835

"A system for quickly and easily accessing preselected desired addresses or URLs on the Internet is disclosed in which a published list of Internet or World Wide Web sites together with their unique jump codes is utilized in connection with a corresponding specialized Web site which is accessed by a user using either a personal computer or a TV Internet Terminal and remote control, after which access a jump code corresponding to the preselected desired URL is entered by the user and software contained in the specialized Web site immediately and automatically accesses the desired Web site."

Bitly?

Seems like a stretch to me. I read the patent and in particular the claims they are saying the Chicago Tribune infringed on. I then looked at the Tribune's website and don't see where they would be infringing based on the claims and description in the patent. Looking at the Jump Code website, it gives an example of newspaper classified ads, but in looking at the Tribune website I don't any "codes" in their classifieds. In fact most of their classifieds are run by third-party systems (CareerBuilder, Pets.com, etc...). I wonder if the print version of the Tribune includes some reference to these numbers in their classifieds or even articles in the paper relating the print article to the online version.

I don't think this is a unique idea though and I would think it would be easy to find some form of prior art in the case. The system basically sounds like using a "keyword", or in this case a JumpCode, to link to a website. But the patent was filed in 2000. Companies like AOL and even CompuServe have used keywords for years on their site to link to webpages. I know newspapers have used keywords in print classifieds to link to online resources for a while (not sure if it would be before 2000 though) as well.

I don't believe these people are trolling necessarily, but I do think they have some aggressive legal advice here and may be looking to get some attention or prevent their business from failing.

Might not be "troll" - here's their "JumpCode" system: http://www.jumpcodesystem.com/

I almost want to set up a competitor to this (having not read the patent) and sell it for $5 per code. Could one simply ignore such a silly lawsuit? Or would it really ruin me if they sued?

Honestly, a bit.ly clone like this would take an afternoon to do well.

It's the people like this that are retarding the progress of software. I understand the need for protections but for something so basic and widely used I don't see how suing someone who uses a similar system helps anyone but the lawyers.