

Why Google and Android Must Deal with the Mobile Protection Racket - grellas
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-why-google-and-android-must-deal-with-the-mobile-protection-racket/

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mycroftiv
Is there any meaningful way to engage in activism or civil disobedience
related to software patents? I support the FSF and EFF with donations, but I
want to do more. As I see it, code is speech, and software patents are a
restriction on the content of speech. I wish there was some way of dramatizing
the issue, some way an activist could use software for a clearly beneficial
charitable project that would also trigger legal action and produce headlines
like "Software company dedicated to helping parents of chronically ill
children research treatment decisions sued for billions for patent
infringement."

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enjalot
I'm with you on this, I'm personally outraged by the situation, and the
analogy to mob protection rackets is way too accurate for comfort.

The analogy has me thinking about how real mob protection rackets are dealt
with (well, at least in the movies). The individual small business owner can't
directly fight back, they have ties to the community that they have a real
chance of losing, just like a software house that want's to be able to operate
in the U.S. can't just up and leave or afford to fight back. The consequence
is a legal equivalent of having your shop burned down. The only real power
that can fight this kind of collusive power is that of public opinion. Other
commenters have already mentioned this, but we cannot dismiss it because
Google is an unsympathetic giant, we have to do something because you and I
are the ones in real danger.

We don't have pi billion dollars to hire lawyers or bid on patent bundles, but
we are the small guys, the rags to riches, the huslters, the american dream.
Software patents are a lie invented by old people to stomp out innovation and
maintain the status quo. If anyone can make software patents sound bad and get
sympathy it's going to be us. We need to find a way to make these issues
matter to people, to put it in their minds and tug on their heartstrings.

I don't know how to do it as an activist, but I bet we could do it as story
tellers, as bloggers and media producers. We are the generation building the
products and services of tomorrow, we know how things should work and what we
want things to look like. In my opinion, we need to produce some pop culture.
I've watched a lot of crime drama's, what's to stop us from making a biz drama
with the same human impact but set in the context of the information age
rather than NY city streets.

Even Google can't fight on their field, what chance do we have going head-on
against money and greed. Our best hope is to use the most powerful weapon we
have, public opinion.

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nextparadigms
It's exactly like a "protection tax" that small guys have to pay. After the
small guys pay, they go to the big ones and show them the list of complying
companies as "proof" that they are right. It's a typical patent troll
strategy.

But Samsung is a big company. They should join B&N and Motorola and go to
court with Microsoft. This will get others to do the same. It works both way.
The more of Microsoft's patents get invalidated, the better for them in the
long run anyway, because not only will Microsoft _double_ the price next time,
but others will start looking through their patent database and see if they
can use _anything_ to get a license fee from Android manufacturers as well.

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alf
Losing the auction is more a failure of partnership than anything else. The
Apple team included MS, Sony, RIM, Ericsson, and EMC, while the Google only
teamed up with Intel. Where were all the Android partners?

There are enough companies with high enough stakes in Android (Google,
Motorola, Samsung .. etc) that if they pooled patients for their common
defense, they would make MUCH less inviting targets. Heck, isn't this what MS
has been saying they would do with Linux for years? Doesn't this legal
precedent concern the corporations that are dependent on Linux (which is
probably a large majority of tech companies today) ?

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shareme
patents and patent auctions is a long-term chess game..

Google knew ahead of time it did not have the $4 billion that might be bid by
a group..it was not in it to win the auction but to use the auction as a bit
of distraction among those potential groups that could file patent lawsuits as
to enforce $4 billion in patents is not millions of dollars but more likely $1
billion in lawyer fees, etc..such resources is not built up over night even
among big companies.

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mvzink
When was Google ever called a "one-trick pony"?

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thornkin
All the time: <http://lmgtfy.com/?q=google+one+trick+pony>

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mvzink
Oops, missed that whole discussion. I guess interpreted it wrong: Google has
tons of tricks, but only one makes money.

