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The information on Groklaw is not intended to constitute legal advice. While Mark is a lawyer and he has asked other lawyers and law students to contribute articles, all of these articles are offered to help educate, not to provide specific legal advice. They are not your lawyers.

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Good guys are those that 'invalidate' their own patents first
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, June 04 2012 @ 05:04 PM EDT
It is perfectly possible for evil people to support a good
cause out of, eg, enlightened self-interest. Frankly, the
current patent mess is bad for most of the people/corporations
involved - so seeing evil companies pushing to invalidate
patents is completely unsurprising.

For this particular lawsuit, I'll cross my fingers for Oracle
while still pulling for an eventual bankruptcy.

--Erwin

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Oracle is a top contributor to Linux
Authored by: IMANAL_TOO on Monday, June 04 2012 @ 05:13 PM EDT
"Oracle is now the good guy"

Oracle has been one of the main contributors to Linux for years! But, on the
other hand...



---
______
IMANAL


.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Good guys are those that 'invalidate' their own patents first
Authored by: ChrixOne on Monday, June 04 2012 @ 05:23 PM EDT
Good guys don't exist here. This is true of others that have appeared on Groklaw
over the years, including IBM and Novell.

The real "bad guy" is the legal system itself and its manifestation in
IP practice. Even if there were "good guys" and "bad guys"
this system would corrupt them in practice.

Face it, MS was once upon a time a "good guy" and a promoter of an
open architecture when IBM tried to shut that down. Of course this is a long
time ago.

As long as we run an IP set up of the sort we have now, the "good
guys" will continue to be corrupted when it suits their interests. And
former "bad guys" will from time to time turn up on the right side of
an issue.

But the real problem is the IP law and courts themselves.

Don't look for reform. The system will probably have to break before the mess
can be cleaned up.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Good guys are those that 'invalidate' their own patents first
Authored by: DannyB on Monday, June 04 2012 @ 05:44 PM EDT
Oracle aren't suddenly the good guys.

It is perfectly possible for evil people to sue other evil people.

It doesn't always have to be good vs. evil. It can be evil vs. evil.

But which evil party I support would depend on which outcome I support.

---
The price of freedom is eternal litigation.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Good guys are those that 'invalidate' their own patents first
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, June 04 2012 @ 06:01 PM EDT
I'm also less cynical in some ways. There do seem to be
'good' guys and 'evil' guys in that some people and
companies fairly consistently choose 'good' things when
possible and others choose purely based on self-interest.

For instance, compare PJ and FM.

Or, compare Google and M$. Even if you compare actions at a
similar time point, the two companies show distinct
approaches, as do/did Sun and Oracle. For example, Sun
elected to not sue Google over Dalvik. And, most of Sun's
employees seem to have bailed out on Oracle.

This is not purely a systemic problem - choice is involved
in lawsuits. That said, Google is suing a bunch of
companies based on Motorola's patents, so it may be
difficult to 'stay good' and stay in business.

--Erwin

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

fundamental problem ...
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, June 04 2012 @ 06:59 PM EDT
All these players have too much money for it to mean anything ... and too many
courtiers boosting their egos. They aren't like us.
If Larry had invited the Google team to his yacht for a sail, and they'd had the
time and grace to accept, this could all have been settled over a beer/fruit
juice with appropriate flowery 'appreciations' and 'acknowledgements' and all
egos stroked.
You rarely get to do the things these guys have done/are doing without an ego
big enough to take on the world. Trouble is controlling it when you are on the
top.
What about donating those amazing 'glasses' for the disabled to the world Brin?
What about giving $1B to produce and distribute them Larry?

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

"Good Guys" Hypocrisy
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, June 04 2012 @ 08:15 PM EDT
I don't think that Oracle did itself any favors here;
indeed I think they just undermined any attempt at
obtaining a positive outcome on their appeal against
Google. It strikes me as hypocritical that when someone,
in this case Google -- violated Oracle's Holy IP they
sued Google, accused Google of "stealing" that IP even
though they themselves not only cheered on Google
but had Open Sourced Java to start with. Now when
Oracle is the one who is accused of stealing someone
else's Holy IP, Oracle is indigent: How DARE someone
would accuse Oracle of "stealing" someone's Holy IP!!
So Oracle turns around and sues Lodsys. True, Lodsys
is a patent troll, and they should get their head handed
to them on a silver platter, just as Oracle was handed
theirs when they sued Google. These two cases Oracle
vs Google and Lodsys vs Oracle / Oracle vs Lodsys
when taken together are perfect examples why
software should NOT be considered patentable. Oracle
wants their cake and be able to eat it too -- they can't
turn around and sue Google simply because Google
produced a successful product using Sun's Java, which
Sun had Open Sourced, and even cheered on Google,
that of course was before Sun was bought out by Oracle;
but now the shoe is on the other foot, now Oracle stands
accused of using someone's else's Holy IP without
License or permission, only now Oracle wants it the
other way around -- it ridiculous to even THINK that
Oracle would ever infringe on someone else's HOLY
IP!!! This would be way too funny were it not true.
Maybe a long last this will signal the beginning of the
end of the issuance of software patents, and Oracle
will be cited as the company that lead the way in
causing them to be invalidated. Oracle I salute you, for
today software patents must DIE!!!

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

I will stand by Ellison and cheer for Oracle...
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, June 05 2012 @ 10:10 AM EDT
from that position I might have a good opportunity to get him in the back of the
knee with my Elvish blade.

</fantasy>

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Good guys are those that 'invalidate' their own patents first
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, June 05 2012 @ 01:37 PM EDT
Oracle did invalidate patents by using them against Android.
I applaud them for trying to invalidate the patents of a troll. And they
assert 101, statutory subject matter as well.
Now just waiting for someone to scan all active patents on Beauregard
claims to have all of them invalidated in one go.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

You are making a mistake...
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, June 06 2012 @ 05:07 PM EDT
(First off, language warning at these links.)

You don't anthropomorphize the lawn mower.

More fun stuff.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

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