
Professor claims Square took his credit card reading technology - chaostheory
http://mobile.venturebeat.com/2009/12/15/professor-claims-square-took-his-credit-card-reading-technology/
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silentobserver
Having seen this sort of story play out many times in the Valley, here is an
explanation for the naive:

1\. A guy comes up with something brilliant and shows his friends.

2\. One of his friends runs off and pitches the idea to another guy, who co-
opts it and decides to build a business around it. They figure the original
guy had a neat idea, but since "they are the ones doing the hard work of
building a business," they don't have to include the original guy in their
team; plus, they are concerned he would ask for too much equity/cash.

3\. The company is formed, launched, announces the product. The original guy
has a "WTF" moment and can't believe his friend would screw him over that way.
He reaches out to the company. Meanwhile, the third guy (meaning, the flashy
CEO who co-opted the technology from the guy who stole the idea) passes off
the idea as his own, brilliant invention. The press is more than happy to
comply.

4\. The company drags its heels on settling with the original guy. Some of the
company's hotshot VCs decide that this is a situation where the guy can be
easily paid off, especially since the hotshot CEO will create such a wildly
successful venture (with their help, of course -- they too have joined in the
creation myth of the company). Meanwhile, the original guy is getting pissed
that this idiot CEO is getting all of this press as the "inventor." This
bothers him far more than the money.

Now once you reach this point, one of two things happens. Either the company
raises money / dilutes shareholders to pay the guy off, or a large savvy
competitor buys out the inventor and royally fucks the company's chances of
executing. The company will of course scream "patent troll" and people on
forums such as this will agree; sometimes the larger competitor will extract a
satisfyingly large settlement, but sometimes the ensuing litigation will
literally cripple/kill the company.

Personally, I find this whole situation very disappointing. I doubt the press
will speak much of this, as they are so desperate for an inside scoop from
Jack.

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trevelyan
It's not clear to me what the value is in the idea.

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extension
Seriously, are you supposed to use this thing to scan your own credit card?
What problem does that solve? It's not getting the number that's hard, it's
all the beurocracy and middle-men that you have to deal with afterward.

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tonystubblebine
I liked his final quote. It's so rare to read stories about legal action that
don't include hyperventilating from both sides.

“There’s no animosity,” he says. “They’ve got a company that they’re moving
along, and I hope it does well. I’ve my cards to play: I’ve got my patent
application in, and I’m going to see what I can get for it.”

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richardburton
This guy has clearly read Dale Carnegie's _How to Win Friends & Influence
People_. He's handling a pretty difficult situation (assuming he does have IP)
pretty well I'd argue.

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andreyf
Also, the reader pictured on their front page seems to be attached to the
wrong end of the phone ;)

See: <https://squareup.com/>

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warp
Looks like an iPod touch, it has the audio in jack on the bottom right.

