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"Having watched this movie play out many times, suing a competitor typically makes them more relevant, not less. " I don't think that's exactly true. I think s
by mattmaroon 17y ago
"Having watched this movie play out many times, suing a competitor typically makes them more relevant, not less. "
I don't think that's exactly true. I think suing people has largely no effect on relevance, but you tend to sue competitors whose relevance is on the upswing. Nobody is going to sue Myspace right now for IP infringement, for instance, they're going to sue Facebook.
- Periodic 17y agoIt also seems like the suits that people hear about are the ones involving the hot new companies, which happen to be those who are gaining relevance but haven't yet established their position and thus are still interesting. So we have patent trolling targeting interesting companies on the rise, and the media selecting for stories about interesting companies on the rise. It could definitely be causality in the other direction.
- btilly 17y agoIt is definitely not always true. Some history is illuminating. The first important lawsuit that Apple filed was against the Franklin Ace. This was in the early 80s. Heard about the Franklin Ace recently? No matter how many times people tell Steve Jobs otherwise, he's been here before. And the very first time he did it, he won an important victory.