While I'm against Paul Allen, I find the comments here to be interesting, since last night there were some here who were defending the idea of the MPEGLA patten trolling, simply because Apple chose h264 for HTML5. Saying that they must protect their investments, which is fine and dandy, but wouldn't the same apply here. Of course those were only a couple of poster, but the effects are big enough to paint a negative image of hypocrisy, and basing their opinions solely on brand name. Remember, I'm only commenting about 2 people or so.
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Microsoft Co-Founder's Firm Sues Apple and Others in Patent Dispute
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Unlike Bill Gates, this clown is on every non-profits top 10 list of the stingiest billionaire, who likes to lavish his wealth only on his immediate family and classic car collection.
He's probably trying to recover the ton of money he wasted in acquiring and driving into bankruptcy Charter Cable (a perennial bottom dweller in customer satisfaction surveys both within the cable industry and among service companies across all industries). I hated them with the same passion reserved for broccoli, until ATT came to my rescue (how's that for irony).
This guy is just a douche. His smug look even reminds me of the PC guy in the Mac commercials.
He's probably trying to recover the ton of money he wasted in acquiring and driving into bankruptcy Charter Cable (a perennial bottom dweller in customer satisfaction surveys both within the cable industry and among service companies across all industries). I hated them with the same passion reserved for broccoli, until ATT came to my rescue (how's that for irony).
This guy is just a douche. His smug look even reminds me of the PC guy in the Mac commercials.
It may be frustrating at times, but the right of patent protection is so important that it is the oldest "right" in the US - and the only one explicitly mentioned in the Constitution (Article 1, Section 8). In the short time between independence and the ratification of the Constitution, twelve of the thirteen new states enacted patent protection laws, for a very good reason: to ensure progress.
The framers of the US Constitution, who lived under British law most of their lives, understood that the British system of protecting new technologies spurred economic growth. Abraham Lincoln was a patent attorney, and listed patent laws as one of the three greatest inventions in history.
Legally, a patent is not a right to manufacture, because the manufacturing of something might infringe on OTHER patents. A patent only assures the holder the right to bring an infringement suit to court. Samuel Morse, credited with inventing the telegraph, was hit with lawsuits 62 times by people claiming to have invented it first, and spent virtually all his profits fighting these lawsuits.
So, Paul Allen can sue, but it's probably too late; whatever he claims in the suit to have invented is "out there" now, and the burden is on him to prove his ideas were stolen. Other people get ideas too, especially while working on similar devices. Just like the British custom the US has naturally emulated, one has to actually DO something with them in order to have a valid "right" to them. It's the basis of capitalism, and crucial to Western civilization.
Allen's still a douche, though.
hmmm
I'm going to patent patent trolling! every knee will at once bow to me!
I honestly think that they should make an intellectual property patenting app available for the iphone and idevices. just think of something you want to make and describe it in 4 sentences and submit. sit back and watch as every potential violation is recorded by the app. it even automatically books flights to the Eastern District of Texas and pokes Judge Leonard Davis' facebook page! SIMULTANEOUSLY!!!!
omg omg omg omg omg i'm gunna be GODDDDDD!!!!!!
I'm going to patent patent trolling! every knee will at once bow to me!
I honestly think that they should make an intellectual property patenting app available for the iphone and idevices. just think of something you want to make and describe it in 4 sentences and submit. sit back and watch as every potential violation is recorded by the app. it even automatically books flights to the Eastern District of Texas and pokes Judge Leonard Davis' facebook page! SIMULTANEOUSLY!!!!
omg omg omg omg omg i'm gunna be GODDDDDD!!!!!!
This crap is all prior art. What happens when then telephone rings. Isn't that a way of alerting users of items of current interest.
Just a sick old jerk who is bitter that practically every one of his post MSFT ventures flopped. Bitter that Apple surpassed Microsoft's market cap, too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Allen#Philanthropy
C'mon now. 10 seconds with the search engine of your choosing would have shown you were posting utter nonsense.
(Also bringing philanthropy into a discussion involving Apple is pretty dangerous ground...)
Forbes say #41 in the world but lost 3 billion last year ouch
I mean number 32, actually it was a bad year for a lot of people
Now only 10.5 billion with about 3 billion tied up in Microsoft (Steve Jobs is worth 5.1 billion)
Microsoft cofounder has lost 36% of his fortune in the last 12 months. Washington State dropout founded software giant with buddy Bill Gates in 1975; left in 1983 after Hodgkin's disease diagnosis. Sold off much of his stake to lose huge sums on far-off visions through holding company Vulcan. Microsoft now makes up 25% of his net worth; shares down 40% since September. Also lost big on investment in Charter Communications; cable outfit announced financial restructuring plan in February, chapter 11 filing expected by April 1st. Dabbles in odd tech projects; funding research to scan outer space for signs of intelligent alien life, Allen Institute for Brain Science, which is creating a genetic map of the mouse brain. Guitar fanatic owns a rock 'n' roll museum, Jimi Hendrix artifacts. This spring kicks off inaugural season of his Major League Soccer club Seattle Sounders FC; also owns football's Seattle Seahawks and basketball's Portland Trailblazers.
I mean number 32, actually it was a bad year for a lot of people
Now only 10.5 billion with about 3 billion tied up in Microsoft (Steve Jobs is worth 5.1 billion)
Microsoft cofounder has lost 36% of his fortune in the last 12 months. Washington State dropout founded software giant with buddy Bill Gates in 1975; left in 1983 after Hodgkin's disease diagnosis. Sold off much of his stake to lose huge sums on far-off visions through holding company Vulcan. Microsoft now makes up 25% of his net worth; shares down 40% since September. Also lost big on investment in Charter Communications; cable outfit announced financial restructuring plan in February, chapter 11 filing expected by April 1st. Dabbles in odd tech projects; funding research to scan outer space for signs of intelligent alien life, Allen Institute for Brain Science, which is creating a genetic map of the mouse brain. Guitar fanatic owns a rock 'n' roll museum, Jimi Hendrix artifacts. This spring kicks off inaugural season of his Major League Soccer club Seattle Sounders FC; also owns football's Seattle Seahawks and basketball's Portland Trailblazers.
It's quite sad that one of the founders of Microsoft is now a patent troll.
Maybe he's just getting bad advice...
Maybe he's just getting bad advice...
Well. That doesn't sound even a little bit completely, entirely vague, generic and non-specific.
Probably. I've been in violation of that patent for some time now. I'm going to get sued next.
These patents are stupid, they shouldn't even be called patents. Soon "Looking at a device" will come out of nowhere and everyone with a device will be sued for violating a patent. The article itself isn't stupid, but the idea described in the article is.
Unless it is apple suing over a patent they hold (in which case as 90% of the people on this board would say patent lawsuits are totally justifiable).
Patents have what 20 year licenses? At least one of these patents was filed in 1999. While it seems obvious now, it may have been less so back then. Still The sound of these patents seems very generic to me, but I have not read the methods they are claiming.
Still I think software patents are a bad idea in there current form. If we can not get rid of software patents then at least reduce the licensing terms due to the fast progress of technology. Perhaps limit the licensing to 5 or 10 years tops?
Still I think software patents are a bad idea in there current form. If we can not get rid of software patents then at least reduce the licensing terms due to the fast progress of technology. Perhaps limit the licensing to 5 or 10 years tops?
Thank you, you beat me to it. I was gonna post...
RE: "Attention Manager for Occupying the Peripheral Attention of a Person in the Vicinity of a Display Device."
Sounds like the kind of manager/coach the Seattle Seahawks could use to me.
My guess is he's losing money on the team and stadium and figures he can recoup it from Apple and a variety of others.
Greedy bastard! What a scumbag! This is why I've never visited Seattle. LOL
Paul Allen makes Bill Gates look like a model human being example for the world.
