3 ms·
Digi-Key is the largest small-volume distributor of electronic parts in the US. They do $1.2Bn per year in revenue of which $700M is done online. Their gross ma
by andres 19y ago
Digi-Key is the largest small-volume distributor of electronic parts in the US. They do $1.2Bn per year in revenue of which $700M is done online. Their gross margins are about 50% and their business is growing at 20% per year.
When Microsoft accused Linux of violating 50 software patents, most people thought they were pretty evil. The claims were frivolous and their aim was to preserve their market share at the expense of consumers. Likewise, Digi-Key makes the frivolous claim that by displaying their public information and linking to their webpage, Octopart is acting illegally.
This is not a debate about whether Digi-Key is good for the town of Thief River Falls or if Digi-Key should be making money. They have as much right to make money and keep their employees happy as Microsoft does, but when they use their muscle to wrongfully stifle innovation at the expense of consumers, it shouldn't be surprising that some people would call them 'evil'.
- menloparkbum 19y agowow! Digi-Key FTW! They're doing about 1000 times better than they were when I was in town. I had no idea.
- wensing 19y ago_by displaying their public information_ What is public about it?
- smock 19y agoThis information is freely available on their website (not to mention their widely distributed paper catalogs). Google has crawled much of Digi-Key's website and has this information on their servers. However, Digi-Key is specifically targeting Octopart (actually, I'm not sure if they're threatening Google, my uninformed guess is no though). The only thing we're doing differently than Google is distilling the information in a way that allows part buyers to compare prices readily. There are other part information websites also crawling Digi-Key, but Octopart is one of the only ones doing price comparison - again, I'm just guessing, but I doubt Digi-Key is threatening any of these other websites.
- webmaven 19y agoAlso note that courts have generally held that pricing information is not protectable by copyright (prior to publication it might be a trade secret, but once you publish it, it essentially becomes a fact in the public domain). This has not stopped large retailers from using novel legal theories (or carefully timed DMCA takedown requests) to stop or chill 'Black Friday' websites, of course, but the law is actually reasonably clear in this area.