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As a german i am quite sure they will ratify software patents. The very sad part is the people deciding this have absolutely no understanding what they are doin

by tpetry 6y ago

As a german i am quite sure they will ratify software patents. The very sad part is the people deciding this have absolutely no understanding what they are doing and that they open the box of pandora. There is currently almost no invest money in european startups, and if everyone of these startups is liable for bogus software patents they will have absolutely no chance on getting big.

raxxorrax 6y ago
With von der Leyen being president, I am pretty sure we make the wrong decision. Yes, some Europeans might think she looks sympathetic, especially those that don't know her well because of language barriers. That she is on the position is testament to the democratic dysfunction of the Union. Officially she is in a conservative party, which eastern European countries liked very much. If we want to take democracy seriously, we would need a common language or at least a common media landscape. We could just use US media of course. They have the opposite problem that everyone understands what they are saying.
- secondcoming 6y ago
  It only became apparent to me yesterday on another forum how much central Europeans, especially Germans, seem to quite dislike von der Leyen!
  - Semaphor 6y ago
    She did a lot of dumb shit while we still had her in Germany.
    - KingOfCoders 6y ago
      Not a fan of her, but can you name 10 things ("lot of") that are "dumb shit" that she did?
      - diffeomorphism 6y ago
        "zensursula" is quite well-known. "Accidently" erasing her phone and destroying files during an investigation. Several scandals and affairs in relation to the Bundeswehr. Not ten, but these immediately come to mind.
        the-dude 6y ago
        Didn't she lie about her education?
        KingOfCoders 6y ago
        The introduction of her PhD didn't contain enough footnotes.
        cygx 6y ago
        Cf Wikipedia[1]: According to the investigation by the university, about 20% of her work suffered from missing or incorrect citations, including 3 'grave errors'. However, there was no evidence of fraud, merely sloppiness, and she got to keep her 'Dr. med'. [1] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursula_von_der_Leyen#Plagiate_in_der_Dissertation https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursula_von_der_Leyen#Plagiate_...
      - KingOfCoders 6y ago
        She did not "accidentally" erase her phone, it was someone else. The one she erased was not accidentally but on purpose (when there were no laws or guidance I erased also my phones before I got them back to my former employer, so we differe here on what "dumb shit" is). So we have two, black lists for websites and spending millions on consultants while choosing Accenture and McKinsey instead of some other charlatans. The problem here is obviously not how the companies were chosen but that millions were given to consulting companies with no clue. I might add "throwing away a rather good gun" - others would debate this. So we might have three. Lots of? And I'd only really consider black lists as "dumb shit" but YMMV. But we may vary on "lots of". If someone says "I have lots of beer at home" I would be rather dissapointed if in the end it were three beer (1.5 for each of us! ;-)
  - mtgx 6y ago
    She only became president because Merkel forced the issue. I think Frans Timmermans (an excellent option!) had a chance to win it before that, as well as Vestager (the antitrust champion in the previous EC). They gave Vestager the VP job to pacify her and her allies. Also, somehow, Vera Jourova, which has been absolutely terrible in her job in the previous EC, especially with the terrible Privacy Shield she negotiated with the US gov (which has now been invalidated - again - by the CJEU) got the VP role, too, in the new EC. Germans need to get rid of Merkel already. She's been terrible in the past 2 mandates, even doing stuff like protecting the coal industry as as well the diesel/gasoline car industry against new EU pollution norms. She also continued to push for new mass surveillance laws, even as the previous ones were being declared unconstitutional by the German courts. I'm almost convinced the only reason she won again last time was because the US/global media kept propping her up as the "world's savior against Trump" - whatever that means. So I'm sure that had an effect at home, too, possibly giving her the edge. I know she was starting to be hated due to the all the local immigration issues prior to that.
    - simcup 6y ago
      Merkel was reelected because there was no feasible Alternative. She is a good politican with proper experience and Connections especially on the international stage, But her politics is as shit AS the rest. One of the reasons why right wing parties are on the up. Think of her as the equivalent to biden. The only thing she has going is that one can assume with certainty she is not gonna fuck shit up so hard, but there are certainly better ways. Fun fact: merkel actually announced she would not be up for re-election in 2021.
    - rusticpenn 6y ago
      She was pushed out, so that she cannot succeed Merkel. She was promoted out of her target job.
  - ricohboy 6y ago
    Is Germany considered central Europe? I had always put them as Western, besides maybe the eastern most parts?
    - cygx 6y ago
      Yes[1], but this can depend on context (eg Western vs Eastern Bloc). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Grossgliederung_Europas-en.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Grossgliederung_Europas-e...
- ginko 6y ago
  >Yes, some Europeans might think she looks sympathetic Are we talking about the same Ursula von der Leyen?
  - trumpeta 6y ago
    I found her sympathetic based on her statements about protection of democratic values in Poland and standing up for oppressed minorities in Asia. I haven't yet seen her bad side I guess.
    - zoobab 6y ago
      The violation of the Rule of Law in Poland and Hungary is exactly what it is about here. We have a rogue administration (the EPO) which cannot be brought to court: "4. UPCA is violating the “rule of law” (TFEU Art2), the EPO cannot be brought to court for maladministration"
- skocznymroczny 6y ago
  Conservative doesn't really mean much anymore on its own. CDU might be considered conservative by Western European standards, but it's liberal by Eastern European standards.
  - enaaem 6y ago
    A lot of political labels have a different, often opposite, meaning in Europe compared to the US. A liberal in Europe refers to classical liberalism. We also have many political parties, so a liberal here is not necessary a christian conservative. Politics is more nuanced.
    - vinay427 6y ago
      Did you reply to the right comment? What do US political designations have to do with European and EU politics? In any case, "a lot of political labels" implies several, and I'm not sure there are more than one or two that fit this description.
      - sangnoir 6y ago
        GP had cast "conservative" and "liberal" as mutually exclusive descriptions of the political spectrum: parent clarified that in Europe, those 2 terms mean the same thing. Mostly.
        cygx 6y ago
        Probably closer to 'libertarian' in US parlance (laissez-faire economics, small government).
    - pbhjpbhj 6y ago
      >" a liberal here is not necessary a christian conservative" // They're pretty much opposite sides of the political spectrum in UK. Where are they anything other than that?
      - 6y ago
- ctas 6y ago
  I don't consider her being in the conservative party the actual problem. In Germany she's well known for nepotism and corruptness, even if until this day she successfully evaded the punishment. Not long ago there's been a claim that her phone contains important evidence in support of the accusation, but it turned out that data on the phone had been "accidentally" wiped.
  - KingOfCoders 6y ago
    "In Germany she's well known for nepotism" As a German this is not "well known" to me, do you have a source? Until now I thought one Accenture manager was the godfather of a child of a deparment manager in the ministry of defence and Accenture got an consulting gig? I didn't know until now she was giving jobs to her relatives.
    - pantalaimon 6y ago
      I still have a “Zensursula” T-Shirt from when she wanted to introduce Internet censorship because “think of the children”.
      - KingOfCoders 6y ago
        "Lots of"? Perhaps for coders ;-) 0,1,lotsof
    - turbinerneiter 6y ago
      One of her kids works for one of the big consulting companies she loved to hire. But more importantly, the people working for her on the government side were often super close to the consultants they hired. As the minister, she takes responsibility for what is going on in her ministry - and that was full of friends giving contracts to friends.
      - lippel82 6y ago
        To be fair, her son worked in the silicon valley office in a very junior position at the time. That's very far removed from the German public sector consulting. She has seven well educated children, they have to work somewhere...
- xamolxix 6y ago
  > That she is on the position is testament to the democratic dysfunction of the Union. I know almost nothing about her but my impression of the actual decision making in the EU is that it's fairly distributed (by design) and there is not a single person which has the power to do anything on their own. Also there are lots of opportunities for various stakeholders to veto decisions.
- jariel 6y ago
  "That she is on the position is testament to the democratic dysfunction of the Union." ??? That she has her position is the most glaring evidence of 'democratic dysfunction'. Nobody voted for her, she was unknown before the election. The very few people that voted in the EU elected voted for something else, after the election 'the true powers' decided to push the ostensible candidate aside, and behind closed doors without input from elected MEPs, Von der Leyen was chosen from relative obscurity (at least outside of Germany) - foisted on top to 500 Million electors, almost none of whom have ever even heard of her. She was not vetted, she did no debates, there was no public coverage, there were no speeches, there was no published platform, there was no campaign agenda. Just: "Here is your new leader, that you have never heard of , that you have just elected". This is not democracy. So perhaps if there were more transparency, or even some of it, you would have been able to vet her, and actually vote for or against her.
  - KingOfCoders 6y ago
    The president of the comission is basically a civil service job.
    - jariel 6y ago
      I get what you mean, but it's a civil service with constitutional powers :). And it's designed to 'one day' be 'Presidential'. Von der Leyen, in her first speech talked about her want to create the 'United States of Europe'. Not only does this hint at the Presidential nature of the role, but also points out the problematic issue with 'lack of democracy' in that voters were told after the election that their leader has a plan for 'existential transformation'. This is not what a bureaucrat does. As a funny example: imagine waking up in Nov. 2016 and being told that the 'US state delegates' had not actually decided to go with 'Mitt Romney', the official candidate, but they 'changed their minds' and went with some 'outsider' from New York named 'Donald Trump'. All of that said - the EU is actually more thoughtful about tech legislation than the US gov for sure - that said, the EU is for the most part making rules that ostensibly 'protect' them from outside parties, it would be a different story if MS, FB and G were HQ'd in London, Antwerp and Lisbon.
- LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
  Hauptsache Haare schön...äh Fönfrisur: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3cytC5i9k4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3cytC5i9k4
tssva 6y ago
I don't like software patents but I have a hard time buying that it will limit investment further. It hasn't significantly done so in the US where software patents have long existed. I imagine it may spur investment because investors see software patents as protecting their investments in startups from both other startups and established companies. Edited to correct a typo kindly pointed out by a comment below.
- nxpnsv 6y ago
  As a coder with kids, am I a software parent?
  - KingOfCoders 6y ago
    The OP said "kindly" and you got downvoted for a joke #HN2020 Sorry could you only vote up once.
- regularfry 6y ago
  Or has it? How would we know? In particular, if we think conceptually software patents could be a good thing, why do we think the current length of patent protection is appropriate?
- fluffernutter 6y ago
  Patents are really the stupidest things ever. The idea that something or an idea can be limited to a particular chain of causality is irrational. The only reason someone likes the idea of saying only one chain of causality should exist for an idea or, better put an idea that makes money, is because they themselves like money or think they can gain access to that money. Even the Cornoavirus has been shown to innovate, through mutation, by changing itself. It is not a single change, either. Many, many viruses change themselves to a new same same configuration over time. Now some may not, but some definitely do, which means that change is available to all. Just because someone is able to get resources to patent an idea is not a good reason to allow them "protection" over another who did not have the resources, but still arrived intellectually at the same conclusion. Are we to say all things we do are protected if they bring value? What about all the things we do not do that bring value? Will those be protected next? If I had resources to spend on a thing, it would be to invent a space drive to get the fuck off this planet and away from all the greedy people.
DethNinja 6y ago
How do you know they have no understanding? Perhaps they got shares in large software companies and just want to eliminate competition. It just seems like corruption to me.
- MCOfficer 6y ago
  I wouldn't be surprised, "free gifts" is exactly what they've been given from the car industry for years.
PaulHoule 6y ago
Does the government think that if they had software patents they could get a Facebook too?
- adventured 6y ago
  > Does the government think that if they had software patents they could get a Facebook too? It'd be an amusing thought, given Facebook's success was particularly aided by patents not getting in their way and they've very rarely utilized patents to go after other companies (they pursued BlackBerry in 2018 after BlackBerry first filed a patent lawsuit against them). I don't think the so called Six Degrees patent [1] for example was ever ultimately used to harm any companies, with Reid Hoffman and Mark Pincus choosing not to try to use it against Facebook or any other networks (Twitter, Snapchat, etc). Their various investing activities into some of those companies certainly may have played a role in that restraint (with Zynga being heavily dependent on Facebook for much of its history also). [1a] https://patents.google.com/patent/US6175831B1/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US6175831B1/en [1b] https://www.cnet.com/news/investors-snub-friendster-in-patent-grab https://www.cnet.com/news/investors-snub-friendster-in-paten... [1c] https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/who-owns-facebooks-most-important-patent-not-facebook/1943186/ https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/who-owns-facebooks-mos...
- LockAndLol 6y ago
  They don't think, they get paid and that's all they want to continue. It doesn't matter which "Facebook" it comes from.
jMyles 6y ago
> The very sad part is the people deciding this have absolutely no understanding what they are doing I'm all for Hanlon's Razor, but its application to IP, and especially software patents, is getting a little strained over the years.

by tpetry 6y ago

raxxorrax 6y ago

With von der Leyen being president, I am pretty sure we make the wrong decision. Yes, some Europeans might think she looks sympathetic, especially those that don't know her well because of language barriers. That she is on the position is testament to the democratic dysfunction of the Union. Officially she is in a conservative party, which eastern European countries liked very much. If we want to take democracy seriously, we would need a common language or at least a common media landscape. We could just use US media of course. They have the opposite problem that everyone understands what they are saying.

secondcoming 6y ago
It only became apparent to me yesterday on another forum how much central Europeans, especially Germans, seem to quite dislike von der Leyen!
- Semaphor 6y ago
  She did a lot of dumb shit while we still had her in Germany.
  - KingOfCoders 6y ago
    Not a fan of her, but can you name 10 things ("lot of") that are "dumb shit" that she did?
    - diffeomorphism 6y ago
      "zensursula" is quite well-known. "Accidently" erasing her phone and destroying files during an investigation. Several scandals and affairs in relation to the Bundeswehr. Not ten, but these immediately come to mind.
      - the-dude 6y ago
        Didn't she lie about her education?
      - KingOfCoders 6y ago
        The introduction of her PhD didn't contain enough footnotes.
        cygx 6y ago
        Cf Wikipedia[1]: According to the investigation by the university, about 20% of her work suffered from missing or incorrect citations, including 3 'grave errors'. However, there was no evidence of fraud, merely sloppiness, and she got to keep her 'Dr. med'. [1] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursula_von_der_Leyen#Plagiate_in_der_Dissertation https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursula_von_der_Leyen#Plagiate_...
    - KingOfCoders 6y ago
      She did not "accidentally" erase her phone, it was someone else. The one she erased was not accidentally but on purpose (when there were no laws or guidance I erased also my phones before I got them back to my former employer, so we differe here on what "dumb shit" is). So we have two, black lists for websites and spending millions on consultants while choosing Accenture and McKinsey instead of some other charlatans. The problem here is obviously not how the companies were chosen but that millions were given to consulting companies with no clue. I might add "throwing away a rather good gun" - others would debate this. So we might have three. Lots of? And I'd only really consider black lists as "dumb shit" but YMMV. But we may vary on "lots of". If someone says "I have lots of beer at home" I would be rather dissapointed if in the end it were three beer (1.5 for each of us! ;-)
- mtgx 6y ago
  She only became president because Merkel forced the issue. I think Frans Timmermans (an excellent option!) had a chance to win it before that, as well as Vestager (the antitrust champion in the previous EC). They gave Vestager the VP job to pacify her and her allies. Also, somehow, Vera Jourova, which has been absolutely terrible in her job in the previous EC, especially with the terrible Privacy Shield she negotiated with the US gov (which has now been invalidated - again - by the CJEU) got the VP role, too, in the new EC. Germans need to get rid of Merkel already. She's been terrible in the past 2 mandates, even doing stuff like protecting the coal industry as as well the diesel/gasoline car industry against new EU pollution norms. She also continued to push for new mass surveillance laws, even as the previous ones were being declared unconstitutional by the German courts. I'm almost convinced the only reason she won again last time was because the US/global media kept propping her up as the "world's savior against Trump" - whatever that means. So I'm sure that had an effect at home, too, possibly giving her the edge. I know she was starting to be hated due to the all the local immigration issues prior to that.
  - simcup 6y ago
    Merkel was reelected because there was no feasible Alternative. She is a good politican with proper experience and Connections especially on the international stage, But her politics is as shit AS the rest. One of the reasons why right wing parties are on the up. Think of her as the equivalent to biden. The only thing she has going is that one can assume with certainty she is not gonna fuck shit up so hard, but there are certainly better ways. Fun fact: merkel actually announced she would not be up for re-election in 2021.
  - rusticpenn 6y ago
    She was pushed out, so that she cannot succeed Merkel. She was promoted out of her target job.
- ricohboy 6y ago
  Is Germany considered central Europe? I had always put them as Western, besides maybe the eastern most parts?
  - cygx 6y ago
    Yes[1], but this can depend on context (eg Western vs Eastern Bloc). [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Grossgliederung_Europas-en.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Grossgliederung_Europas-e...
ginko 6y ago
>Yes, some Europeans might think she looks sympathetic Are we talking about the same Ursula von der Leyen?
- trumpeta 6y ago
  I found her sympathetic based on her statements about protection of democratic values in Poland and standing up for oppressed minorities in Asia. I haven't yet seen her bad side I guess.
  - zoobab 6y ago
    The violation of the Rule of Law in Poland and Hungary is exactly what it is about here. We have a rogue administration (the EPO) which cannot be brought to court: "4. UPCA is violating the “rule of law” (TFEU Art2), the EPO cannot be brought to court for maladministration"
skocznymroczny 6y ago
Conservative doesn't really mean much anymore on its own. CDU might be considered conservative by Western European standards, but it's liberal by Eastern European standards.
- enaaem 6y ago
  A lot of political labels have a different, often opposite, meaning in Europe compared to the US. A liberal in Europe refers to classical liberalism. We also have many political parties, so a liberal here is not necessary a christian conservative. Politics is more nuanced.
  - vinay427 6y ago
    Did you reply to the right comment? What do US political designations have to do with European and EU politics? In any case, "a lot of political labels" implies several, and I'm not sure there are more than one or two that fit this description.
    - sangnoir 6y ago
      GP had cast "conservative" and "liberal" as mutually exclusive descriptions of the political spectrum: parent clarified that in Europe, those 2 terms mean the same thing. Mostly.
      - cygx 6y ago
        Probably closer to 'libertarian' in US parlance (laissez-faire economics, small government).
  - pbhjpbhj 6y ago
    >" a liberal here is not necessary a christian conservative" // They're pretty much opposite sides of the political spectrum in UK. Where are they anything other than that?
    - 6y ago
ctas 6y ago
I don't consider her being in the conservative party the actual problem. In Germany she's well known for nepotism and corruptness, even if until this day she successfully evaded the punishment. Not long ago there's been a claim that her phone contains important evidence in support of the accusation, but it turned out that data on the phone had been "accidentally" wiped.
- KingOfCoders 6y ago
  "In Germany she's well known for nepotism" As a German this is not "well known" to me, do you have a source? Until now I thought one Accenture manager was the godfather of a child of a deparment manager in the ministry of defence and Accenture got an consulting gig? I didn't know until now she was giving jobs to her relatives.
  - pantalaimon 6y ago
    I still have a “Zensursula” T-Shirt from when she wanted to introduce Internet censorship because “think of the children”.
    - KingOfCoders 6y ago
      "Lots of"? Perhaps for coders ;-) 0,1,lotsof
  - turbinerneiter 6y ago
    One of her kids works for one of the big consulting companies she loved to hire. But more importantly, the people working for her on the government side were often super close to the consultants they hired. As the minister, she takes responsibility for what is going on in her ministry - and that was full of friends giving contracts to friends.
    - lippel82 6y ago
      To be fair, her son worked in the silicon valley office in a very junior position at the time. That's very far removed from the German public sector consulting. She has seven well educated children, they have to work somewhere...
xamolxix 6y ago
> That she is on the position is testament to the democratic dysfunction of the Union. I know almost nothing about her but my impression of the actual decision making in the EU is that it's fairly distributed (by design) and there is not a single person which has the power to do anything on their own. Also there are lots of opportunities for various stakeholders to veto decisions.
jariel 6y ago
"That she is on the position is testament to the democratic dysfunction of the Union." ??? That she has her position is the most glaring evidence of 'democratic dysfunction'. Nobody voted for her, she was unknown before the election. The very few people that voted in the EU elected voted for something else, after the election 'the true powers' decided to push the ostensible candidate aside, and behind closed doors without input from elected MEPs, Von der Leyen was chosen from relative obscurity (at least outside of Germany) - foisted on top to 500 Million electors, almost none of whom have ever even heard of her. She was not vetted, she did no debates, there was no public coverage, there were no speeches, there was no published platform, there was no campaign agenda. Just: "Here is your new leader, that you have never heard of , that you have just elected". This is not democracy. So perhaps if there were more transparency, or even some of it, you would have been able to vet her, and actually vote for or against her.
- KingOfCoders 6y ago
  The president of the comission is basically a civil service job.
  - jariel 6y ago
    I get what you mean, but it's a civil service with constitutional powers :). And it's designed to 'one day' be 'Presidential'. Von der Leyen, in her first speech talked about her want to create the 'United States of Europe'. Not only does this hint at the Presidential nature of the role, but also points out the problematic issue with 'lack of democracy' in that voters were told after the election that their leader has a plan for 'existential transformation'. This is not what a bureaucrat does. As a funny example: imagine waking up in Nov. 2016 and being told that the 'US state delegates' had not actually decided to go with 'Mitt Romney', the official candidate, but they 'changed their minds' and went with some 'outsider' from New York named 'Donald Trump'. All of that said - the EU is actually more thoughtful about tech legislation than the US gov for sure - that said, the EU is for the most part making rules that ostensibly 'protect' them from outside parties, it would be a different story if MS, FB and G were HQ'd in London, Antwerp and Lisbon.
LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
Hauptsache Haare schön...äh Fönfrisur: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3cytC5i9k4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3cytC5i9k4

tssva 6y ago

I don't like software patents but I have a hard time buying that it will limit investment further. It hasn't significantly done so in the US where software patents have long existed. I imagine it may spur investment because investors see software patents as protecting their investments in startups from both other startups and established companies. Edited to correct a typo kindly pointed out by a comment below.

nxpnsv 6y ago
As a coder with kids, am I a software parent?
- KingOfCoders 6y ago
  The OP said "kindly" and you got downvoted for a joke #HN2020 Sorry could you only vote up once.
regularfry 6y ago
Or has it? How would we know? In particular, if we think conceptually software patents could be a good thing, why do we think the current length of patent protection is appropriate?
fluffernutter 6y ago
Patents are really the stupidest things ever. The idea that something or an idea can be limited to a particular chain of causality is irrational. The only reason someone likes the idea of saying only one chain of causality should exist for an idea or, better put an idea that makes money, is because they themselves like money or think they can gain access to that money. Even the Cornoavirus has been shown to innovate, through mutation, by changing itself. It is not a single change, either. Many, many viruses change themselves to a new same same configuration over time. Now some may not, but some definitely do, which means that change is available to all. Just because someone is able to get resources to patent an idea is not a good reason to allow them "protection" over another who did not have the resources, but still arrived intellectually at the same conclusion. Are we to say all things we do are protected if they bring value? What about all the things we do not do that bring value? Will those be protected next? If I had resources to spend on a thing, it would be to invent a space drive to get the fuck off this planet and away from all the greedy people.

DethNinja 6y ago

How do you know they have no understanding? Perhaps they got shares in large software companies and just want to eliminate competition. It just seems like corruption to me.

MCOfficer 6y ago
I wouldn't be surprised, "free gifts" is exactly what they've been given from the car industry for years.

PaulHoule 6y ago

Does the government think that if they had software patents they could get a Facebook too?

adventured 6y ago
> Does the government think that if they had software patents they could get a Facebook too? It'd be an amusing thought, given Facebook's success was particularly aided by patents not getting in their way and they've very rarely utilized patents to go after other companies (they pursued BlackBerry in 2018 after BlackBerry first filed a patent lawsuit against them). I don't think the so called Six Degrees patent [1] for example was ever ultimately used to harm any companies, with Reid Hoffman and Mark Pincus choosing not to try to use it against Facebook or any other networks (Twitter, Snapchat, etc). Their various investing activities into some of those companies certainly may have played a role in that restraint (with Zynga being heavily dependent on Facebook for much of its history also). [1a] https://patents.google.com/patent/US6175831B1/en https://patents.google.com/patent/US6175831B1/en [1b] https://www.cnet.com/news/investors-snub-friendster-in-patent-grab https://www.cnet.com/news/investors-snub-friendster-in-paten... [1c] https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/who-owns-facebooks-most-important-patent-not-facebook/1943186/ https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/who-owns-facebooks-mos...
LockAndLol 6y ago
They don't think, they get paid and that's all they want to continue. It doesn't matter which "Facebook" it comes from.

jMyles 6y ago

> The very sad part is the people deciding this have absolutely no understanding what they are doing I'm all for Hanlon's Razor, but its application to IP, and especially software patents, is getting a little strained over the years.