

Google Adds 152 Patents to Its Non-Assertion Pledge - matti3
http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/26/google-adds-152-patents-to-its-non-assertion-pledge/?ncid=fb&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=fb&utm_content=FaceBook

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cheepin
This is probably obvious to anyone with a legal background, but does this
carry any weight? Or is it just a gentleman's agreement that could turn into a
lawsuit if you make them angry enough?

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ajross
This is one of those situations where the legal pananoia clips back on itself.
Clearly this is not a contract and wouldn't expect to be enforced as one. So
the conservative assumption has to be that it carries "little" weight and that
Google might change its mind.

Nonetheless, if you imagine the flip side, the legal advice flips too. If you
have a company whose employees made a statement to a partner about their
intent not to enforce IP rights, you certainly would expect that to be an
important bit of evidence in any subsequent trial. It's routine in big
companies for employees working with partners and customers to be warned by
their legal departments _not_ to make statements like this becuase of the risk
involved.

In the real world: I think we have to take this for what it is. It's just a
promise, apparently in good faith. Short of legal action by our governments,
there aren't any permanent solutions to this problem. This is as good as we're
going to get.

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beejiu
> Clearly this is not a contract

I'm pretty sure making a pledge of this nature does form a contract. The terms
of that contract are available here:
[http://www.google.com/patents/opnpledge/pledge/](http://www.google.com/patents/opnpledge/pledge/),
which says:

> It is Google’s intent that the Pledge be legally binding, irrevocable
> (except as otherwise provided under “Defensive Termination” below) and
> enforceable against Google and entities controlled by Google, and their
> successors and assigns.

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graeme
A contract typically requires consideration between two parties. Consideration
can be almost purely nominal, but it has to exist.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consideration](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consideration)

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telecuda
Note: 94 uniquely named / 245 total

