10 ms·
But this is a bit of a dark area. Even if Google stopped pursuing the patent, who is to say that someone else wouldn't?
by codetoliveby 8y ago
But this is a bit of a dark area. Even if Google stopped pursuing the patent, who is to say that someone else wouldn't?
- mabbo 8y agoA court ruling against someone patenting this would strongly discourage anyone else from trying.
- mcny 8y agoThank you. Sounds like a win win scenario for Google. If the courts decide Google can't patent it, it probably means nobody else can either.
- brisance 8y agoHow is this a win-win scenario for Google? They’re attempting to do something that is strictly against the interest of the inventor and abusing the patent system in order to achieve a commerical advantage at the cost of the rest of humanity. This is totally evil in my view.
- mistrial9 8y agoit is exactly a "win-win" for Google, as described above, because fairness and respect to an individual author are not included in the decision at all. It is money and the legal context of money, that is described in "win-win" and as you rightly point out, this creates miserable results from a humanist point of view.
- FartyMcFarter 8y agoKey words: "for google".
- phkahler 8y agoGoogle may simply want the patent to prevent someone like MPEG LA getting one. I suspect they really want it to prevent MPEG LA from using the technique in a codec though. Or perhaps Google employees are simply chasing the incentives to get patents.
- brisance 8y agoIf MPEG LA tries to patent it then they’d have to go through the same process. But they haven’t so why is Google trying to be a smartass and directly challenge the inventor, when it was him who gave them the idea in the first place? The most charitable thing to say is that they’re naïve but given how they’ve also considered working with the US government on drones to kill people I think they’ve really strayed from trying to “organize the world’s information”.
- tdb7893 8y agoTheir main goal is to not get sued. As long as no one else is granted the patent they probably won't be too unhappy. As a large tech firm just not patenting anything doesn't seem practical given the current patent law even if you don't plan on suing people for them. Once you get a patent another company can't get a patent for the same thing (and if they do it's easy to invalidate) and also the more patents you have the less likely you are to be sued for patent infringement as you could always sue them back for your patents.
- brisance 8y agoSo we are going to have to rely on the goodwill of Google not to sue others if they are awarded the patent? How about being a good corporate citizen like the others and not trying to patent it in the first place?
- ocdtrekkie 8y agoCorporations do not act with goodwill, and those that do are often not successful corporations for long, as others take advantage of them. Remember that every time you see a corporation seemingly acting selflessly, either you don't realize how it benefits them, or its just a public relations play. But corporations always act in self-interest.
- brisance 8y agohttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bosch_GmbH https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bosch_GmbH
- yorwba 8y agoI guess you want to highlight that the company is owned mostly by a charitable foundation ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bosch_GmbH#Corporate_affairs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bosch_GmbH#Corporate_af... ), but I think it's important to realize that the company itself still operates as a profit maximizer for its shareholders. You only need to scroll down to the section about their involvement in the Volkswagen emissions scandal for proof of that.
- YouAreGreat 8y ago> at the cost of the rest of humanity This is the main reason why I'm on the fence regarding nuclear non-proliferation. We're approaching the point where nuking the 'plex from orbit will be humanity's last option, the only way to be sure.
- mabbo 8y agoIf Google wins, they have the patent on this implementation. If Google loses, no one can have the patent. Either way, Google isn't paying anyone else to do this.
- n1231231231234 8y agoWhat's missing in this win-win equation is Google's image. It's another instance of Google getting lots of negative press, where they are portrayed as the bad guys. So whatever the patent outcome, with respect to their image, Google is certainly not winning.
- monochromatic 8y agoUnless they wrote their claims differently.
- analog31 8y agoThe patent application and its prosecution history become public knowledge, hence prior art against any further attempt to patent the same thing.
- kharms 8y agoIs there a form of theft that can't be justified with that sentence? "If the USA didn't take land from the Native Americans, who is to say that someone else wouldn't?"