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Intellectual Ventures' patent protection racket
http://slashdot.org/submission/1068513/Intellectual-Ventures-patent-protection-racket
Nathan Myhrvoldâs Evil Genius
,----[ Quote ]
| Until recently, one of the few points Myhrvold could make in his own favor is
| that he hadnât started suing firms that declined to license his patent
| portfolio. I say âuntil recentlyâ because weâre now learning that the lawsuits
| have started. IV has begun selling off chunks of its patent portfolio to
| people like Raymond Niro with well-deserved reputations for being âpatent
| trolls.â Threatening to sell patents to a third party who will sue you is more
| subtle than threatening to sue you directly, but the threat is just as potent.
| Myhrvoldâs âsales pitchâ to prospective licensees just got a lot more
| convincing.
|
| The fundamental question we should be asking about this business strategy is
| how it benefits anyone other than Myhrvold and the patent bar. Remember that
| the standard policy argument for patents is that they incentivize beneficial
| research and development. Yet IVâs business model is based on the opposite
| premise: produce no innovative products, spend minimal amounts on research and
| development, and make a profit by compelling firms that are producing products
| and investing in R&D to pay up. Not only does this enrich Myhrvold at everyone
| elseâs expense, but it also reduces the incentive to innovate, because anyone
| who produces an innovative product is forced to share his profits with
| Intellectual Ventures. Patents are supposed to make innovation more
| profitable. Myhrvold is using the patent system in a way that does just the
| opposite. In thinking about how to reform the patent system, a good yardstick
| would be to look for policy changes that would tend to put Myhrvold and his
| firm out of business.
`----
http://timothyblee.com/?p=781
Recent:
Intellectual Ventures' Patents Starting To Show Up In Lawsuits
,----[ Quote ]
| Intellectual Ventures, of course, is the Nathan Myhrvold company that has
| been building up a huge portfolio of patents with which to get big tech
| companies to pay many millions of dollars to not get sued -- and, according
| to many, to get a cut of future deals as well, making the whole thing sound
| suspiciously like a pyramid scheme.
|
| [...]
|
| But, a year ago, we noted that the company appeared to be getting antsy.
| While it was bringing in some hefty fees from a small group of companies who
| bought into the equity pyramid (which neatly lets the world outside be
| confused over what's "investment" and what's "revenue"), there was concern
| that investors were getting impatient. Pouring billions of dollars into a
| company that isn't doing much can make some investors a little anxious. And
| while we still don't know of any direct lawsuits, Zusha Elinson has noticed
| that Intellectual Ventures' former patents are starting to show up in court,
| often involving some of the most well known names normally associated
| with "patent trolling."
`----
http://techdirt.com/articles/20090903/0333546094.shtml
Intellectual Ventures Takes Indirect Route to Court
,----[ Quote ]
| Both Apple and Microsoft have been reported to be IV investors.
`----
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202433490140&thepage=2
Conn. divorce judge puts $250K into escrow
,----[ Quote ]
| A Connecticut divorce judge ordered Tuesday that $250,000 be placed in escrow
| that a hedge fund planned to pay a former Microsoft employee amid a federal
| investigation of possible insider trading.
|
| [...]
|
| The Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this year reopened its probe
| of possible insider trading at Pequot. It's investigating if Pequot traded
| Microsoft Corp. ( MSFT - news - people ) shares on confidential
| information provided by Zilkha, whom it had hired.
`----
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/04/28/ap6351588.html
Related:
Microsoft exec dumped stock prior to Red Ring announcement
,----[ Quote ]
| To make matters more murky, the sales were not registered with the Securities
| and Exchange Commission within the mandatory two days of the transaction, a
| result of an alleged "administrative error." Microsoft has since remedied the
| issue by following the "procedures required of late-filers."
`----
http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2007/08/14/microsoft-exec-dumped-stocks-prior-to-red-ring-addresment
Microsoft's Bach sold more stock before Xbox news
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Corp. executive Robbie Bach sold $3 million more in company stock
| during the period leading up to an announcement about a costly flaw in its
| Xbox video game console than previously reported, according to a filing
| Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
`----
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/microsofts-bach-sold-additional-stock/story.aspx?guid=%7BBECA3A50-EF33-4161-A111-A43BDC8B0462%7D&siteid=yhoof
Insider Trading Hasn't Affect Microsoft Stock - Yet
,----[ Quote ]
| MarketWatch.com reports that Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's
| Entertainment and Devices division, sold $6.2 million of Microsoft
| stock just prior to announcing that Microsoft was going to have to
| extend XBox 360 warranties to three years because of extensive
| failures. The filings note that this was not part of any
| scheduled diversification or selling program; this was a
| conscious, unscheduled sale by the guy in charge of releasing
| news that could affect the value of Microsoft stock.
|
| [...]
|
| Insider trading is a very serious violation of the law; just
| ask Martha Stewart, who served five months in prison for
| avoiding losses of $43,000 through trades that just had suspicious
| timing (no insider trading was actually proven). This is $6.3
| million that went straight into Robbie Bach's pocket.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/seekingalpha/070713/40947_id.html?.v=1
,----[ Quote ]
| Sadly, many of these brilliant people have been blinded by the stock
| price and unable to see that Microsoft is also the key architect of
| the greatest financial pyramid scheme this century.
|
| It is not uncommon for participants in pyramid schemes to lose their
| emotional bearings. My close friends who work at Microsoft are
| particularly upset over my work and it is possible that even Bill
| Gates and Steve Ballmer do not realize the implications of their
| financial practices.
`----
http://www.billparish.com/msftfraudfacts.html
Microsoft Shilling and Astroturfing
,----[ Quote ]
| MSFT Shilling and Astroturfing
|
| * Paid for ads purportedly from a think-tank, although at least
| one signer of the ad defended it. You might want to take a
| closer look at what the web has to offer on this issue.
| * Paid for Gartner "research" and DH Brown "research". Also
| paid for IDC "research".
| * Planned to plant fake op-ed pieces in local newspapers.
| See also this C|Net article.
| * Fake "grass root" letter writing campaign. See also
| this article. This time, the astroturf is directed to Attorneys
| General of the US states suing Microsoft for anti-trust violations.
| * Planted shills in a Compuserve forum
| * Planted shills in ZDNet TalkBack forum and MSNBC forum shills
| * Planted shills in an AOL forum
| * Stuffed an on-line ballot box
| * Stuffed another on-line ballot box
| * Fund a think-tank to produce a favorable whitepaper.
| * Astroturfed a Register reporter
| * Secretly funded a Grass roots Network of "Citizens".
| * Analysis of Microsoft lobbying and astroturfing
| * Posted fake user testimonials. See also this commentary.
`----
http://www.inlumineconsulting.com:8080/website/msft.shilling.html
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