These lawsuits have been going on for years, but back in 2015, the core of Personal Audio LLC's claim -- that the organization invented podcasting and that podcasts should have to pay it licensing fees -- was invalidated after the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) stepped in. The EFF showed that podcast-style shows existed well before Personal Audio LLC's patent.

That's not to say this patent trolling is truly dead; Personal Audio LLC could still appeal to the Supreme Court. But it's incredibly unlikely that the highest court in the US will agree to hear the case. So, at least for now, it's likely we won't be hearing much more about this patent in the future.