
Barnes & Noble wants DOJ probe into Microsoft patent tactics - rbanffy
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57320800-75/barnes-noble-wants-doj-probe-into-microsoft-patent-tactics/
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kenjackson
This is an odd request. Microsoft is asserting their legal right to enforce
patents which give them the ability to license technology for which they have
a government granted monopoly.

If the patents are trivial and outmoded then get them overturned. If not, be
thankful that Microsoft is willing to license them to you. They have no
obligation to license these with reasonable terms (which they seem to be),
much less at all.

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scott_s
B&N's request sounds reasonable to me. It sounds like MS is being cagey about
what the infringement actually is. From the article:

 _Another letter, from Barnes & Noble's general counsel, Eugene V. DeFelice,
to James J. Tierney, chief of the Networks and Technology Enforcement Section
in the Justice Department's Antitrust Division, details Microsoft's method of
pushing for a patent-licensing deal. DeFelice wrote that Microsoft accused
Barnes & Noble of infringing on six patents at a July 2010 meeting.

"When Barnes & Noble asked Microsoft for more detailed information related to
these patents, Microsoft refused, claiming that the information was
confidential and could not be shared, unless Barnes & Noble first executed a
non­disclosure agreement," DeFelice wrote._

This sound dangerously like a "I have a list of names" tactic. The patents
have been filed and (I assume) granted. How B&N infringes on the publicly-
known patents shouldn't be confidential - if we grant MS that, then what
prevents a company from making it up?

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rbanffy
This kind of tactic is specifically designed to effectively prevent other
companies in similar situation to organize a collective defense against the
patents or to correct the alleged infringement by working around the patents
and, instead, increases the likelihood of them being forced into agreements.

The patents are public and so should be the allegations of infringement.

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kenjackson
Exactly, patents are public. BN can examine all patents held by MS. At any
point MS can threaten BN with any patent in their portfolio. MS has no legal
obligation to disclose to them ahead of time which patent they are violating
in our current legal system.

If this goes to court then it will be public, but until then companies have a
legal right to conduct business in private.

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rbanffy
> BN can examine all patents held by MS

You know how ludicrous this is. "You have done something wrong, but I won't
tell you what".

This is how 6-year-olds do business. I expected Microsoft's legal to employ
adults.

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jeromeparadis
The problem isn't Microsoft tactics with patents. The problem is software
patents.

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rbanffy
The problem is not entirely patents, but, given companies just aren't capable
of behaving in civilized ways, the law has to be changed.

