An notorious patent troll filed a lawsuit against GNOME over a photo management app it offers with its Linux desktop environment.

Florida man Leigh M. Rothschild was only recently awarded a patent relating to wifi image transfers, but he has a long history taking companies like Apple and Samsung to court. His LLC was named in 2015 as the single largest nonpracticing entity by defendant count; a NPE is a company or person who holds patents but makes no products, instead pursuing companies that do for settlements. One website counts 30 lawsuits filed since June involving Rothschild Patent Imaging LLC, with more than 100 ongoing.

GNOME is possibly one of many targeted with the new patent. Ars Technica published an article about Rothschild in 2017; the EFF reported a case that went particularly badly for him, having already awarded his company its coveted Stupid Patent Of The Month award in 2015.