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Steve Wozniak Calls Paul Allen A Patent Troll
- donpdonp 15y agoI think Paul Allen would heartily agree with that description.
- chanks 15y agoI should have submitted the original Register article. Sorry about that: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/03/woz_talks_patents_and_soup/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05/03/woz_talks_patents_an...
- stevenj 15y agoHm, that's interesting. I submitted the Register article the other day and it only got 1 upvote: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2512559 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2512559 I can't remember what time I submitted it though.
- vog 15y agoThis might have something to do with the title: "Woz snubs Paul Allen, praises pea soup" Although this is the original title of the article, this kind of title doesn't attract lots of HN readers. It suggests that this article is solely about personal issues between two people.
- dm8 15y agoHe is spot on. Patents are meant to reward original innovator not the guys who buy them in bulk and profit out of it. And if you are not using those patents to do some innovative products then you've wasted them. Something should be done about patent trolls. Seriously!
- uvdiv 15y ago"Patents are meant to reward original innovator not the guys who buy them in bulk and profit out of it." Huh? Buy "buying them in bulk", the patent trolls are paying money to the original innovators. They are being rewarded. Why do you oppose innovators' right to sell their IP to other parties? It's hardly property if you can't transfer ownership.
- voodoomagicman 15y agoI think it is clear that he is not opposing the _transfer_ of patents, but the transfer to people who's only planned use for the patent is in court
- rbanffy 15y agoOnce you transfer your property, usually, you have very little control over how it's used.
- anamax 15y ago> I think it is clear that he is not opposing the _transfer_ of patents, but the transfer to people who's only planned use for the patent is in court What other uses do you think that patents have? The only thing that a patent gives you is the ability to sue someone. A patent doesn't let you practice anything.
- Natsu 15y ago> What other uses do you think that patents have? They prevent others from suing you, at least over that one patent. That said, I wonder how much it might fix if people were only permitted to license or cross-license your patents and forbidden from reassigning the patent or the right to sue over the patent.
- raganwald 15y agoThey prevent others from suing you, at least over that one patent. This is not valuable. Placing ideas in the public domain also prevents people from suing you and anybody else for those ideas, and it's much less expensive. The only reason to pay for a patent is to acquire the right to sue for compensation.
- orangecat 15y agoPatents are meant to reward original innovator not the guys who buy them in bulk and profit out of it. I would disagree that non-practicing entities are fundamentally evil. If I have a legitimate patent on a useful and non-obvious invention that is unlikely to be independently created, I should be able to take my "reward" in a lump sum by selling the rights to it. Paul Allen isn't a patent troll because he owns an IP company; he's a troll because he's trying to enforce ridiculous patents that never should have been granted in the first place. Of course, if the USPTO were actually competent the "buy patents and sue" business model would be much less viable.
- georgemcbay 15y agoPatents were originally meant to entice people into publishing secret methods for the betterment of public knowledge. The limited monopoly was the carrot on the stick to do that, not really meant to be the the ultimate reward of the system. Of course the current patent system is a total joke with companies patenting blatantly obvious ideas left and right and playing the game of "who filed the obvious idea first and/or who has the most lawyers". If there were a patent on the idea of harnessing power from Thomas Jefferson spinning in his grave, that'd be a real valuable one... because he must be spinning REALLY, REALLY fast by now.
- Apocryphon 15y agoNow the hackers (as opposed to the hustlers) are fighting? Gates and Jobs sure are bad influences on these guys.
- zandorg 15y agoAs has been pointed out before this article, Paul Allen ploughed 10s of millions of $$ into the Interval Research Institute and employed people like Lee Felsenstein. Interval shut down in 2000. He just wants some money back from his huge investment in this institute.