To say that technology patents have become more important over the past decade is to risk comic understatement. A patent is essentially a government-sanctioned monopoly designed to give the inventor a two-decade head start to commercialize any new technology.
But in practice, patents are weapons. Technology companies load up on patents like Cold War nations stockpiling nuclear bombs, hoarding them for use when an important market is at stake. And few companies have been loading up on patents as aggressively as Apple and Google, two companies that had nothing to do with the smartphone market 10 or 15 years ago when many of Nortel's wireless patents were being developed.
Many companies stockpile patents for defensive purposes, but others actively look for ways they can make money from them -- big money. The kind of reverse-engineering practiced by Widdowson happens more often than most people realize.
It's just not widely discussed. The companies that do this are big because the costs are big. When patent fights go to trial, the legal fees typically run into the millions of dollars.
But the rewards can be great too. In , a U. On Friday, the U. International Trade Commission threatened to halt the import of all Motorola Mobility's Android phones and tablets after finding that Motorola had violated a Microsoft patent on how to fire off meeting requests from a mobile device. Right now, ground zero for the patent wars is the smartphone market, where everyone from Google, Oracle, Microsoft, and Apple to Motorola, HTC and Samsung are battling it out in the courts.
Some companies use patents as a competitive weapon, launching legal wars of attrition against competitors. Others find that they can make big money in some areas without necessarily having to win in the marketplace.
Veschi says that he -- and not Rockstar's board of directors -- is calling the shots when it comes to licensing deals. The company's mission is "to manage the patent portfolio to achieve a return on investment, probably through a combination of licensing and sales," says Veschi. Because it doesn't actually produce anything, some knock Rockstar as a straight-up patent troll.
She says she hears from small companies regularly who get pressured out of the U. None of them want to talk to the press, though, for fear of drawing attention -- and possibly more legal troubles -- to themselves. Ultimately, Samuels worries that patents -- especially software patents -- will hurt innovators rather than help them. And that's exactly the opposite of what patents are supposed to do. With just 32 employees, Veschi's company is tiny, but it has a big legacy.
It's the final resting place of the patent portfolio of Canada's most storied technology company, Nortel Networks, a telecommunications giant whose origins date back to when it was the telephone manufacture and repair department of the Bell Telephone Company of Canada. Three-quarters of Rockstar's employees, including Veschi and Widdowson worked at Nortel and kept their jobs by helping the creditors understand and then sell Nortel's patent portfolio.
Nortel flamed out spectacularly in , in a complex international bankruptcy that cost more than 30, employees their jobs, left others without pension and life insurance coverage, and saw several top executives face fraud charges in a trial that's still ongoing. Why weren't you Google? Why weren't you Facebook? Employee pensions were slashed in half when the company could no longer meet payment obligations. Some workers lost life insurance or medical benefits when the company's self-funded programs collapsed.
In an address beamed live to billions of people around the globeMonday, Gates expressed confidence that his company's latest movewill, ultimately, benefit all humankind. As the world's richest, most powerful software company, Microsoft is number one. And you, the millions of consumers who use our products, are the zeroes. From The Onion. And you, the millions of consumers who use our products, are the zeroes.
The Onion The A. About The Onion Store. I shit thee not. For what it's worth, conspiracy theories about coronaviruses and Bill Gates together and separately have existed for years so it's extremely unlikely that the patent's label is a coincidence.
The "" does indeed relate to this year. As far as the "" part, it appears to be an amusing prank from someone at the WIPO.
That six-digit code was available and we can't fault the WIPO employee for jumping on an opportunity to blow some Alex Jones fan's mind. Source: WIPO. Hubert has been a journalist in spirit since age six, and can't see any good reasons to argue with that, so here we are.
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