You Know you Need to Reform Patent Law when…
Google just bought Motorola mobility for 12+ BILLION dollars. It would appear that they purchased the company not because there is significant synchronization and economies of scale, not because it was the right thing to do, but instead because of significant patent warchests that would allow Google to defend itself in court:
Our acquisition of Motorola will increase competition by strengthening Google’s patent portfolio, which will enable us to better protect Android from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies - Larry Page
This is (excuse the pun) patently ridiculous. It’s not good for the economy, not good for innovation, and certainly doesn’t set a good precedent for up and coming firms that are looking to innovate. It’s tough to pay an army of lawyers when you’re just trying to keep the lights on and get VC backing.
As always, it will be interesting to see how this plays out in court, and what its impact on the mobile marketplace will be in the medium term.
Congress: please take a shot at reform - well, OK maybe after you reform yourselves.
Sony, IP Protection, and Technical Literacy for Judges
The linked post on Wired Blogs’ Threat Level reminds me how fragile our freedoms are as consumers of digital technology. In the article, it’s clear to me that the poor kid figured out how to hack a device that he owned through ingenuity and got beaten down for it. Furthermore, the initial rulings from the Judge of the case were extremely harsh because her only analog from an IT perspective was a Child Pornography case.
The judge should be applauded for paring back her decisions in light of new information, but I get the sinking feeling that many judges would not have that kind of humility. Perhaps a course on information technology and information transfer is in order for our legal system? Or perhaps only certain trained or certified judges should be able to hear cases of this nature to ensure freedoms are protected?
For Sony, I can’t help but feel sorry for them - not because their device was hacked, but because of their sad approach to try and get the hack back. If they were smart they would’ve hired the kid to fix the problem and pushed it out in a firmware update. Everyone knows that once something is out there on the net it’s not coming back, especially something for a console as popular as Playstation 3. Trying to block every IP address carrying the content is just a waste of money.
Sony will also have the right to sue anyone re-posting the content, which is weird since they themselves posted a link to it on Twitter the other day… idiots.
About Me
A strategy consultant with a passion for IT, geopolitics, economics, and the open ocean. Awed by simple, innovative solutions to difficult problems. This represents my favorite slices of the web and serves as networked storage for my brain which is now entirely pointer-based. Opinions expressed here are my own and do not represent those of any organization with which I may or may not be allegedly associated.
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