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The Danger of Software Patents
,----[ Quote ]
| This is the transcript of a talk presented
| by Richard M. Stallman on 8 October 2009 at
| Victoria University of Wellington.
`----
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/danger-of-software-patents.html
Patent Protection For Sale
,----[ Quote ]
| Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers is well
| known for the venture capital it brought to
| great innovations involving computers,
| health and energy. One of its latest
| startups is based on an entrepreneurial idea
| that may or may not be great but is very
| interesting: helping companies hand over
| money for mostly bogus legal claims
| involving patents.
|
| This particular startup, RPX, doesn't
| describe itself that way. In fact, it makes
| a good case that its goal is to help
| companies, many of them in the tech
| industry, make the best of the bad situation
| that is the U.S. patent system. The fact
| that patent holders and lawyers will end up
| with money they don't deserve reflects
| nothing about RPX but a lot about a system
| filled with rot.
|
| If you think patents protect plucky
| innovators and their groundbreaking
| inventions, you haven't been paying
| attention. Patents have evolved into an
| extortion scheme that hurts real inventors
| far more than it helps them.
`----
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/1228/technology-patent-protection-rpx-digital-tools.html
Georg Greve says in
http://identi.ca/notice/16517119
"When your business plan is a euphemism for "protection racket" http://is.gd/5jm7d Good article on the reality of software patents."
Recent:
Is RPXâs âDefensive Patent Aggregationâ Simply Patent Extortion By Another
Name?
,----[ Quote ]
| RPXâs model borrows a little from Intellectual Ventures (where CEO John
| Amster hails from), but with a twist. Amster used to be in charge of patent
| acquisitions at Intellectual Ventures, which buys up billions of dollars
| worth of patents and then gets companies to license the entire portfolio. If
| companies decide not to play ball, the threat of massive patenet litigation
| hangs in the air.
`----
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/24/is-rpxs-defensive-patent-aggregation-simply-patent-extortion-by-another-name/
Firm to buy up patents
,----[ Quote ]
| According to the Wall Street Journal Cisco Systems and IBM have already
| signed up.
|
| RPX is funded by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Charles Rivers
| Ventures. Its two chief executives, John Amster and Geoffrey Barker,
| previously served as vice presidents of Intellectual Ventures, another
| company in the business of purchasing patents.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/11/25/firm-patents
New Patent Buying Firm Swears It'll Never Litigate Over Its Patents
,----[ Quote ]
| It involves getting a bunch of tech companies to pay up, so that this new
| company, RPX Corp., can buy up a bunch of patents "for defensive purposes
| only." The company insists it won't sue anyone with these patents. But, of
| course, the whole thing makes you wonder. For the companies that buy into
| RPX's deal (or IV's for that matter), they end up spending a bunch of money
| for a rather weak form of insurance that protects them in the very rare case
| where they might be able to use a patent in either firm's portfolio to maybe,
| possibly protect itself against an infringement lawsuit.
`----
http://techdirt.com/articles/20081124/0033382934.shtml
Cisco, IBM join start-up to protect against patent trolls
,----[ Quote ]
| According to a statement about patent reform on its Web site, Cisco
| states: "The patent litigation system today is unbalanced and patent
| speculators are exploiting the system's unfairness to coerce high settlements
| from productive companies.
`----
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/35665
RPX Spooks Trolls Lurking Under Patent Bridge
,----[ Quote ]
| NPEs typically troll the patent office, news reports, and company product
| lines in hopes of finding infringements to patents in its library. Once a
| product is targeted, the NPE sends a letter to the product's maker,
| threatening to sue the supposedly infringing company unless it pays a license
| fee or settles out of court.
`----
http://www.pcworld.com/article/154486/it_patent_trolls.html?tk=rss_news
Looking to fend off patent trolls, IBM, Cisco support startup RPX
,----[ Quote ]
| Now, two former executives of Myhrvold's Bellevue patent licensing firm are
| striking out on their own with support from IBM and Cisco to serve as a
| counterweight to patent holding firms like Intellectual Ventures. Today, RPX
| Corp. is launching what it dubs "defensive patent aggregation" -- a
| membership club of sorts where large and small technology companies pool
| capital in order to order to protect themselves from patent litigation.
`----
http://www.techflash.com/IBM_Cisco_support_RPX_in_defensive_patents34959854.html
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