Apple Tells Lodsys Patent Troll to Back Off • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple Tells Lodsys Patent Troll to Back Off

#51

Post by haberman » Mon, May 23, 2011, 10:44 PM UTC

hyperbovine wrote: post #48

haberman wrote: post #31

It's disappointing that the response is "we've already licensed that" rather than "you cannot possibly believe that you really own that." Everyone I know who is doing real work in tech agrees that patents like this are BS. But everyone keeps playing the broken game. No one yet has had the incentive to make a real push (like lobbying) for real patent reform. It's still cheaper to swat the flies than it is to, I dunno,…

The licensing fees are typically on the order of 1/100th to 1/1000th of what you might have to pay if you lose an infringement case in court. I forget the exact margin, and it varies by circuit, but something Federal court decisions in these cases tend to break in favor of the plaintiff. It may disappoint you, but no company in their right mind is going to take that gamble. (IANAL but one of my good friends is a self…

> The licensing fees are typically on the order of 1/100th to 1/1000th of what you might have to pay if you lose an infringement case in court.

That's exactly my point about how it's currently still cheaper to swat the flies. But they could at least publicly argue for patent reform, and heap scorn on patent trolls, which shouldn't be as expensive.

> IANAL but one of my good friends is a self-confessed patent troll -- in this market, you take what you can get.

If you're really struggling to make ends meet, I can understand resorting to behavior even if you don't agree with it 100%. I'm sure I would steal bread if it were my only alternative to going hungry. But in the bigger picture such people/companies are leeches on the economy and should have their legal weapons (patents) taken away from them.

Re: Apple Tells Lodsys Patent Troll to Back Off

#52

Post by k33n » Tue, May 24, 2011, 2:31 AM UTC

mechanical_fish wrote: post #43

ugh wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How?

Well, the first-order solution is to not buy popup ads. Popup ads plus "software that 'cleans' your machine" equals "warning sign". But presumably these ads work, and maybe they work so well that it's worth the collateral damage to one's brand from people whose first reaction is like mine. Hey, it's your life. The other defense is to build the brand. Get some reviews from someone I've heard of. Name-check those revie…

You don't sound like you're in the market for that kind of software, which kind of invalidates your entire point.

If I'm selling software that scans for and removes spyware, popups would be a pretty damned compelling marketing channel as people without the savvy to install a popup blocker can probably derive a lot of value from my product.

Re: Apple Tells Lodsys Patent Troll to Back Off

#53

Post by tjogin » Tue, May 24, 2011, 7:05 AM UTC

haberman wrote: post #31

It's disappointing that the response is "we've already licensed that" rather than "you cannot possibly believe that you really own that." Everyone I know who is doing real work in tech agrees that patents like this are BS. But everyone keeps playing the broken game. No one yet has had the incentive to make a real push (like lobbying) for real patent reform. It's still cheaper to swat the flies than it is to, I dunno,…

It's disappointing to those of us standing on the sideline enjoying the show. But it must be very comforting for App developers, knowing that Apple is standing by them.

Re: Apple Tells Lodsys Patent Troll to Back Off

#54

Post by ontoillogical » Tue, May 24, 2011, 9:52 AM UTC

cookiecaper wrote: post #46

CamperBob wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one yet has had the incentive to make a real push (like lobbying) for real patent reform. There's a catch-22 in this situation. Only large companies have the lobbying muscle to effect change. Apple, Microsoft, Google, and other players clearly risk more than they gain from the current patent system, but if they speak out against it, the trolls will organize a PR campaign smearing "huge, faceless corporations" for…

While this is true, I think it's more about the money they all are able to derive from each other wielding their respective patent portfolios than about the potential bad press from trolls. Really in this scenario the trolls are almost the good guys, as long as they are attacking the big players like Microsoft. If we get enough cases like i4i v. MS, the big companies will decide that the current patent system is too…

When Intellectual Ventures first started they claimed to be trying to fix the broken system by buying up tech patents in the interest of all the players that invested in it. This is how they initially got big investments from the major tech companies.

Now that they are clearly a patent troll, and a scary one at that, it looks like the conditions you set out for reform are that much closer to coming to being. I wonder if Myhrvold will end up acting in the interest of the tech industry after all...