???In Technology Wars, Using the Patent as a Sword??? - New York Times Feature

[Nadav Har'El]

On Tue, Oct 09, 2012, Shlomi Fish wrote about "???In Technology Wars, Using the Patent as a Sword??? - New York Times Feature":
> rover missions. Last year, for the first time, spending by Apple and
> Google on patent lawsuits and unusually big-dollar patent purchases
> exceeded spending on research and development of new products,
> according to public filings.

This is not entirely surprising. As an example, IBM is well-known for its
research arm, and many people assume that IBM spends a fortune on its R&D.
But a few years ago, I attended some IBM customer conference, where an IBM
executive stood up and told everyone, proudly, that the previous year,
IBM bought small companies for X billions of dollars, which was more than
it spent on its own research arm.

So for some reason, big American corporations feel very good (and proud)
about spending huge amounts of money on mergers and acquisitions. They
feel like such mergers can never fail (although many are spectacular
failures). I think many of these so-called patent buyouts are yet another
type of merger - e.g., consider Google's buy of Motorola Mobility, is it a
merger or patent purchase?

I don't think any of these companies are spending more on actual litigation
than on product development. If this were true, we would have seen
these companies having more lawyers than developers. I don't think this
is the case. I also don't think it is the case that these companies are
paying billions of dollars blackmail to patent trolls - I've yet to see
a patent troll on the list of the world's richest people.

That being said, I do agree with you that the whole patent system is
rotten to its core, and has become nothing more than a game that you
are forced to play if you want to stay in business; Since everyone
is also playing the same game, you don't get any edge by playing it,
but you at least get to stay in business (which you won't if you refuse
to play the game).

Nadav.

-- 
Nadav Har'El                        |      Tuesday, Oct 9 2012, 23 Tishri 5773
nyh at math.technion.ac.il             |-----------------------------------------
Phone +972-523-790466, ICQ 13349191 |Ms Piggy's last words: "I'm pink,
http://nadav.harel.org.il           |therefore I'm ham."