
General Motors Salvages Ride-Hailing Company Sidecar for Parts - coloneltcb
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-19/general-motors-salvages-ride-hailing-company-sidecar-for-parts
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bruceb
Not sure why this was buried at end of the article: "The person familiar with
the deal added that as part of the transaction, GM will also get a license to
a patent that was granted to Sidecar CEO Paul in 2002: “System and method for
determining an efficient transportation route.”

Sidecar executives believed the patent covered the essential intellectual
property behind ride-sharing, though Uber and Lyft never responded to
Sidecar’s repeated attempts to enforce the patent, this person said."

This seems a story by itself.

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greglindahl
A good illustration of how patents are often not that useful to startups -
Sidecar may have gotten more money from GM for it, but it did them no good
against Uber and Lyft.

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sjg007
Why did they not file a patent infringement lawsuit?

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hkmurakami
It would also take years to resolve and wouldn't impact their business
operations in the meantime (look at Apple vs Samsung lawsuits circa 2011)

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goughjustin
Sounds like a great opportunity for 20 employees of sidecar.

