Last Dec. 15, people in Sydney, Australia faced a terrifying hostage crisis that ultimately took the lives of three persons, including the hostage taker.

Some of those who escaped from the crime scene relied on UberX, the app that's made Uber Technologies, Inc. quite popular.

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Unfortunately, these people had to pay a whole lot more for the Uber service during the crisis. Uber is now under for price gouging.

Uber isn't apologizing for jacking-up its prices, said Bloomberg. It seems Uber is so proud of the technology behind its sudden, yet calculated price increases it aims to get a patent for it.

It filed a patent application for what it refers to as "surge pricing" technology last year.

The technology has the capability to "dynamically adjusting prices for service." It's based on the use of mobile devices.

Basically, Uber's rates depend on a specific formula involving the measurement of supply (in this case, the number of Uber drivers) and demand (the number of passengers looking for rides using their smartphones).

This formula then dictates how much passengers should pay for Uber's service.

Uber has over a dozen other patent applications for surge pricing.

TagsUber Patent, Uber News, Uber Surge Pricing, Uber SUrge Pricing Patent, Uber Patents