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General Motors Salvages Ride-Hailing Company Sidecar for Parts
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- bruceb 11y agoNot 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.
- greglindahl 11y agoA 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.
- sjg007 11y agoWhy did they not file a patent infringement lawsuit?
- greglindahl 11y agoBecause that's expensive, and rarely works.
- hkmurakami 11y agoIt would also take years to resolve and wouldn't impact their business operations in the meantime (look at Apple vs Samsung lawsuits circa 2011)
- goughjustin 11y agoSounds like a great opportunity for 20 employees of sidecar.
- balls2you 11y agoThe article says "Sidecar’s inability to compete in the arena it helped create demonstrates the market power and tenaciousness of Uber...". What it doesn't say is that Uber is headed by a white guy, whereas Sidecar was run by a couple of Indian guys. It is clear why they weren't funded more.