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> This piece really is all about the Nortel patents. You bet! Nortel is a household name for all they have done to advance technology and for the smartphone in

> This piece really is all about the Nortel patents. You bet! Nortel is a household name for all they have done to advance technology and for the smartphone industry in particular, I am shocked that anyone could dispute the validity of these patents. We owe them a debt of gratitude for the Nortel PalmPilot, the nDroid, nPhone, the nPad, and all the other consumer products Nortel has poured their innovation into. They gave so much, in fact, that they went into bankruptcy. If it wasn't for Nortel, why, who knows where Apple, Google, Microsoft, and the others would be? The bones of Nortel are probably brimming with innovative new product ideas that only need cash from Apple or Microsoft to see the light of day.

recoiledsnake 15y ago
I am sure that there was no innovation at all in the phone hardware space in the past 40 years before the palmpilot, iPhone, Droid and iPad devices. Right? If only those devices came out in the 80s, we could have had 40G instead of just 4G now!
mattmanser 15y ago
Validity? No, I'm sure they did. Timescale? Today's innovation is at an incredible pace. To grant patents that don't reflect that is absurd, what was innovative 20 years ago is utterly mundane today. Because what was a difficult problem 20 years ago is trivially solved today even without that innovation. That so many patents are used offensively without ever seeing their inventor use them practically is evidence of this. To pretend otherwise is to grant monopolies to people who have already reaped the benefits of their inventions at a massive cost to society, the very people these laws were meant to benefit.
Terretta 15y ago
I worked at Northern Telecom. You would likely be astonished at how much they did invent that got licensed into products you take for granted.
deleted 15y ago
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dman 15y ago
In fact their track record is so bad that not since Nicola Tesla has anyone gone into bankruptcy with such utter lack of innovation.
regularfry 15y ago
It's a good thing patents are only available for consumer products, or who knows what a mess we'd be in!

recoiledsnake 15y ago

I am sure that there was no innovation at all in the phone hardware space in the past 40 years before the palmpilot, iPhone, Droid and iPad devices. Right? If only those devices came out in the 80s, we could have had 40G instead of just 4G now!

mattmanser 15y ago

Validity? No, I'm sure they did. Timescale? Today's innovation is at an incredible pace. To grant patents that don't reflect that is absurd, what was innovative 20 years ago is utterly mundane today. Because what was a difficult problem 20 years ago is trivially solved today even without that innovation. That so many patents are used offensively without ever seeing their inventor use them practically is evidence of this. To pretend otherwise is to grant monopolies to people who have already reaped the benefits of their inventions at a massive cost to society, the very people these laws were meant to benefit.

Terretta 15y ago

I worked at Northern Telecom. You would likely be astonished at how much they did invent that got licensed into products you take for granted.

deleted 15y ago

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dman 15y ago

In fact their track record is so bad that not since Nicola Tesla has anyone gone into bankruptcy with such utter lack of innovation.

regularfry 15y ago

It's a good thing patents are only available for consumer products, or who knows what a mess we'd be in!