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| Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, December 12 2012 @ 02:59 PM EST |
I apologize if I disappointed you. Well, not really, but I'm
not trolling.
I don't particularly care about the instant litigation, as I
don't have a dog in the fight. The sun will rise, the sun
will set, one company will transfer money to another, and
life will go on. Eventually, the two companies will enter
into a comprehensive settlement, and everyone will look back
on the fuss, and wonder why they were so passionate about
it. This is all about positioning. I do find the legal
issues fascinating, however.
I will expand on my earlier point regarding FRAND licenses.
The reason that I think that the various antitrust entities
(EU, US primarily) are starting to sniff around this issue
is because it's a potentially huge one (subject to
disclaimers below). Here it is in a nutshell- a lot of what
we love about tech is built on the shoulders of giants.
Let's posit that a given overall "solution" can have a
number of different implementations. A company can offer an
implementation as a standard, and in exchange for that (say,
as a FRAND) they get a good return, but they can't go ahead
and "weaponize" it.
Which is why some patents (unencumbered by FRAND) are more
valuable for *LITIGATION* than others.
Try to analogize it to property. Think of it in terms of 30
different ways to get across a river. One person says, "Hey,
if you use my bridge, I'll let everyone pass for a low toll.
Promise." So everyone says this is a good idea, and the
bridge owner gets a steady stream of income, and everyone's
happy, and the other 29 bridges get dynamited. 10 years
later, the bridge owner then says, "Hey, my bridge is the
MOST valuable because without it, no one can cross the
river."
Now, I can caveat these statements by acknowledging that,
yes, the IP systems sucks and Congress needs to act. But I'm
not a fan of either side- I really enjoy this type of high
level litigation. What I find fascinating is that so many
people here (and on other sites) are viewing this like its a
sports event. Samsung doesn't care about you. Apple doesn't
care about the trolls on other sites.
And hear me now and believe me later- Samsung will throw
Android under the bus as soon as it is profitable to do so.
My guess is it won't be too long. The enemy of my enemy is
my friend might be a wonderful aphorism, but Corporations
aren't your friend.[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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