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Google accused of racketeering in lawsuit

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Re: Google accused of racketeering in lawsuit

#111

Post by khazhoux »

StanislavPetrov wrote: post #80
pishpash wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's simplistic. Why would they go to the trouble of "cutting out the people who originated these ideas" if they are already at X Labs and the project was to continue?

Simple, because then they'd have to share the profits with them.

Google regularly pays "average" employees quarter-million+ a year. It pays its higher-ups millions a year. It pays its superstars many many millions. This is an undisputable fact.

The idea that they'd cut someone out just to not pay them does not match this reality.

Re: Google accused of racketeering in lawsuit

#112

Post by [deleted] »

paul7986 wrote: post #23

I had a similar experience with Google; a mutual NDA was signed as seen here https://goo.gl/K9Wd1U . - Feb 2013 created SpeakerBlast; turn multiple devices into one sync speaker via a URL - March 2013 Samsung released the Galaxy 4 with Group Play (same concept as SpeakerBlast) - April 2013 Google/Motorola emails/calls me asking would I sell SpeakerBlast for inclusion into the Moto X - May 2013 Fly out from Baltimore…

[deleted]

Re: Google accused of racketeering in lawsuit

#114

Post by Teever »

klodolph wrote: post #88
Teever wrote: post #85

Man it would be so terrifying going up against Google in court. How do you do research? How do you communicate with your lawyer? They know everything about what you do, when you do it, and who you do it with.

If you sue the phone company, they don't cut off your service or tap your phones.

You would be surprised.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/telus-cuts-subscriber-access-t...

Re: Google accused of racketeering in lawsuit

#115

Post by Teever »

blammo999 wrote: post #91
blammo999 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do realize that there exists software that isn't made by Google, right? Oh, also books exist.

Like, lawyers have their own collections of research they search through, and because they're not all SV tech bros, they're not above making a phone call or meeting in person in one of their offices (and no, not the open kind).

With an android phone perhaps? And did they use Google maps to get the address to meet the person?

Re: Google accused of racketeering in lawsuit

#116

Post by ShabbosGoy »

carapace wrote: post #68
wpietri wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure why this is getting downvoted. Early on he blatantly cheated Wozniak: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/steve-wozniak-cried-jobs-kept-atari...

Remember when they (Adobe, Apple Inc., Google, Intel, Intuit, Pixar, Lucasfilm and eBay [1]) colluded to keep each other from competing for talent and driving up wages? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Tech_Employee_Antitrust_L...

Kabuki Theatre for the proles.

Re: Google accused of racketeering in lawsuit

#117

Post by jstewartmobile »

paul7986 wrote: post #23

I had a similar experience with Google; a mutual NDA was signed as seen here https://goo.gl/K9Wd1U . - Feb 2013 created SpeakerBlast; turn multiple devices into one sync speaker via a URL - March 2013 Samsung released the Galaxy 4 with Group Play (same concept as SpeakerBlast) - April 2013 Google/Motorola emails/calls me asking would I sell SpeakerBlast for inclusion into the Moto X - May 2013 Fly out from Baltimore…

This has been the valley formula for at least 20 years now.

First company I worked for wrote Palm software. Palm starts a conversation with us--allegedly on how they could improve their OS for developers--and starts asking fairly specific questions about our product.

Three months later they come out with a copy of it.

Worse still, before that happened Intellisync sued us for patent infringement on our own algorithm. The boss didn't bother to patent it figuring that it had prior-art all over it. That didn't stop the USPTO from issuing Intellisync a patent though. Our attorney was sure we could win, IF we felt like investing a few years and a few $M into the legal battle.

Re: Google accused of racketeering in lawsuit

#118

Post by johansch »

johansch wrote: post #48
Animats wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the price of weakening patents. When corporations were afraid of patent holders, this happened less. The great fear was, you infringe a patent, you get shut down. That happened to Kodak when they tried to get into instant photography in violation of Polaroid's patents. Kodak was forced to exit the instant camera business within 30 days and buy back every instant camera they'd sold.

This seems to have started around 1976/1977. Polaroid wasn't exactly a tiny startup then, so they had the financial resources to defend themselves. https://books.google.com/books?id=6TTbCT64seEC&pg=PA91&lpg=P... "In 1977, (Polaroid) revenues reached $1 billion" The lawsuit took 15 years to settle: http://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/16/business/kodak-settles-wit...

> The lawsuit took 15 years to settle

Which doesn't contradict that thing about Kodak initially having to remove their products from the market within 30 days, of course.

My main beef was that Animat's comment seemed to say (or at least imply) that back then, patents protected smaller companies against larger bullies - which seems off since Polaroid was a billion dollar business at the time. I'm sure Kodak was larger (update: I just found a figure of $5.9B revenue for 1977), but still. A yearly revenue of a billion dollars does mean you are able to defend yourself, even if it gets prolonged - as evidenced by the case dragging out for 15 years...

Re: Google accused of racketeering in lawsuit

#119

Post by triplesec »

wpietri wrote: post #63
rodgerd wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah yes, Steve Jobs would be quite the guy to lecture anyone about betrayls of trust and friendship.

I'm not sure why this is getting downvoted. Early on he blatantly cheated Wozniak: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/steve-wozniak-cried-jobs-kept-atari...

Likely because sarcasm isn't generally approved ofin HN. Your link is much more useful

Re: Google accused of racketeering in lawsuit

#120

Post by johansch »

jaclaz wrote: post #104
johansch wrote: post #32

It has been going on for a while: https://www.theverge.com/2015/2/17/8048779/google-x-eli-atti... This 2008 patent application has a number of interesting illustrations: https://www.google.com/patents/US20090234696 (note the actually granted Google patents that reference this one) Seems like the original idea was LEGO-like modular system of components that can be combined into buildings.

>Seems like the original idea was LEGO-like modular system of components that can be combined into buildings. Which in itself it is not entirely new and largely pre-dates the advent of computers as we know them today. In the '80's and '90's there were all sorts of experiments in the field, it was a "trend" explored in many countries, "modular building prefabrication". I was involved in the time in several projects (a…

(Thanks for the perspective, that was interesting.)

Btw, modular/semi-modular home construction is a pretty big thing here in Sweden. Seems like most standalone homes are built that way nowadays. I had earlier assumed it was similar elsewhere, but it seems like it isn't dominant in most other places.

I guess our horrible climate makes it nicer/more profitable to build modules in a climate-controlled factory than on a wintery/coldish/raining building site. Contrast that to e.g. California - decent climate all year around. I'm also guessing that our high taxes on work and a lack of a low-paid builder workforce also contributes to making automation of housing module manufacturing worthwhile.

See e.g.

https://www.treehugger.com/modular-design/sweden-they-are-bu...

(It's not just one house manufacturing company doing these, there are loads of them around the country; I think the typical size is a couple of hundred people. With lots and lots of automation. Not quite sure why large-scale consolidation hasn't happened yet - I'm guessing it's because these companies tend to be privately/family-owned.)

http://www.globalconstructionreview.com/trends/why-sweden-be...

"About 84% of detached houses in Sweden use prefabricated timber elements, while in developed economies such as the US, Australia and the UK, no more than 5% of permanent housing has any significant prefabrication."

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