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SimulaVR Has Been Subpoenaed by Meta Platforms, Inc

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Re: SimulaVR Has Been Subpoenaed by Meta Platforms, Inc

#61

Post by Bloedcoin »

unnouinceput wrote: post #55
dsign wrote: post #27

This is not Meta demanding to see some privilege information that exists in Simula's drawers, but rather commandeering the entire competing organization to do market research for Meta. It is clever and evil, and nothing anybody says after this will make me think that Meta is not anti-competitive nor that they have an once of ethics. As a consumer, I doubt I will ever again consider their VR products; I rather give my…

> I rather give my money to Satan, or even Google I giggled. When you go from "don't be evil" to this, you know you fucked up big time. This has to be the tagline of the decade in regards to Google ("Google!, the boss of Satan", hi hi hi).

Why?

Google still provides android, Google maps, Gmail for free. World changing at it's time still helping people around the globe.

Their research blog is fantastic and shows what they value.

Google Io focus on people and security and trust.

Google is much further away from evil than plenty of other companies.

Did they kill stadia? Yes.

Did actually anyone care? No. Because stadia didn't matter anyway.

Re: SimulaVR Has Been Subpoenaed by Meta Platforms, Inc

#62

Post by JKCalhoun »

Raed667 wrote: post #50
cableshaft wrote: post #40

>We're don't view ourselves in competition with Meta >...Meta sells reasonably good gaming headsets to customers who want to be entertained in VR; we're selling general-purpose productivity devices which are aimed at replacing PCs and laptops. Hate to break it to you, but if you don't think that Mark Zuckerberg is actively trying to create VR devices that are general-purpose productivity devices aimed at replacing PC…

Mark wants to be able to sell apps and ads on his end-to-end controlled platform, that is it. He missed the boat on browsers and smartphones, so he is aiming for total monopoly of what he believes is the next-big-thing™.

I'm still skeptical that it is The Next Big Thing.

I wonder if Zuckerberg suspects it might not be as well but, hey, Hail Mary!

Re: SimulaVR Has Been Subpoenaed by Meta Platforms, Inc

#63

Post by fencepost »

Not a lawyer or involved in the legal system, but is this a situation where you can respond with your rates for providing this expert witness service? If so, this may be a situation where you can charge them $500/hr plus costs (eg atty) for the service of extracting, redacting and summarizing some of the information they've requested.

Edit: your attorney may have a better idea of what rates for this might be, but I'd suggest looking into what it costs to have a known and respected third party physician do chart review and testify in court in malpractice cases, then consider what they'd charge if they were also expected to anonymize and show information from their own practice and patient charts.

Re: SimulaVR Has Been Subpoenaed by Meta Platforms, Inc

#64

Post by haneefmubarak »

incomingpain wrote: post #48

If I were simulaVR, I would make this very painful to meta. You would put together business plans that literally say no other vendor can compete against meta. Basically confirm the anti-competition. That even that subpeona is anticompetive and an attempt to further crush them. Malicious compliance the entire way.

I think the subpoena is mostly for existing records and novel records of existing plans. IANAL, but I think if you were to create novel documents that were most certainly less than honest for the purpose of swaying the case, there could be legal consequences for you.

Courts aren't stupid - if it becomes apparent that you are attempting to maliciously comply, they can still get you based on your apparent intent.

Re: SimulaVR Has Been Subpoenaed by Meta Platforms, Inc

#65

Post by joelfried »

aliqot wrote: post #37
marcinzm wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why does it matter how other companies are to their point?

green name has a point though.

The way to get better behavior is to point out bad behavior wherever you see it, not shrug and treat it like a broken stair.

Re: SimulaVR Has Been Subpoenaed by Meta Platforms, Inc

#66

Post by bilekas »

This seems a bit wild and super anti-competitive, of course it's hard to say with only hearing from simulaVR's perspective.

The content of information they're required to handover also seems incredibly sensitive, wouldn't that basically give Meta more 'Market Research' simply by reviewing these documents ?

It does seem a little bit like the corporate version of a 'Slap suite' also given how financially restricted Simula seem.

Re: SimulaVR Has Been Subpoenaed by Meta Platforms, Inc

#67

Post by chillfox »

LeonenTheDK wrote: post #8

Well that is unfortunate. I would not want to be in Simula's position, I'm sure they've got enough on their plate without having to deal with stuff like this that they barely have an impact on in the first place. I understand that Meta needs to prove they're not a monopoly, and apparently the way to do that is through other companies laying their cards on the table, but my goodness would I feel uncomfortable giving c…

There is no need for the executives at Meta to see these documents themselves to derive value from them. A lawyer seeing them and providing a verbal summary is more than good enough when deciding on strategy.

Re: SimulaVR Has Been Subpoenaed by Meta Platforms, Inc

#68

Post by unnouinceput »

incomingpain wrote: post #48

If I were simulaVR, I would make this very painful to meta. You would put together business plans that literally say no other vendor can compete against meta. Basically confirm the anti-competition. That even that subpeona is anticompetive and an attempt to further crush them. Malicious compliance the entire way.

Isn't that what they already did with this statement? Quoting last paragraph subtitle "We're don't view ourselves in competition with Meta" is exactly that. Therefore the FTC can take that and prove FB is a monopoly, or whatever FTC end-game is.

Re: SimulaVR Has Been Subpoenaed by Meta Platforms, Inc

#69

Post by ajross »

bombcar wrote: post #17
ajross wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A subpoena is a court order (and the service requirement constitutes legal proof that it was delivered). Refusal to comply is contempt, which can be punished as a crime. No, you don't get to ignore a subpoena. In this particular case it looks like they're just being asked to testify about their product in an unrelated case. They aren't being sued. Call your lawyer first and do what they say. Most likely you can arran…

Who pays for all the costs associated with this? Can you abuse the legal system to drive a company into bankruptcy by repeatedly subpoenaing them?

People are really (really) misinterpreting this. The OP isn't being sued, they aren't being attacked as a competitor to Meta. (In fact the obvious guess here was that they're being asked to testify in this antitrust case to the fact that their product is successful!)

A subpoena is just a demand for testimony. The court wants to "know what you know" so it can make a better decision. Testimony before courts of law is part of your civic duty as an inhabitant of a nation under the rule of law. Yes, it has costs. You have to bear them for the same reason you need to pay your taxes, because a civilization without courts isn't one we want to live in.

Re: SimulaVR Has Been Subpoenaed by Meta Platforms, Inc

#70

Post by Roark66 »

If this is actually how US's justice system works it is even more bonkers than I thought. Could someone versed in this legal system explain, please? Is is any accused that can demand documents/data/free research from vaguely related third parties, or only large companies? Enquiring minds want to know!
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