5 ms·

Many patent lawyers are engineers.

hammock 15y ago
Most of them come from an engineering background (at least education), you're right. It's fascinating to me to see this shift, which Google seems to be leading, from tech companies fighting over new product development - and spending gobs of cash on it - to something entirely different: fighting over patents (and again, spending gobs of cash on it). Where a company spends its cash is a good measure of where its priorities are, and I'm not sure what that says about Google.
- 18pfsmt 15y ago
  "It's fascinating to me to see this shift, which Google seems to be leading, from tech companies fighting over new product development...to something entirely different: fighting over patents " I thought it was Microsoft and Apple that were aggressively filing patent lawsuits, and Google and other Android partners were on the receiving end, no? One other thing I don't see being mentioned anywhere in these threads is that, "Motorola Mobility held $5.5B in cash and deferred tax assets; this could put Google's (GOOG) real purchase price around $7B."[1] [1]http://seekingalpha.com/article/278932-can-motorola-mobility-be-sustainably-profitable http://seekingalpha.com/article/278932-can-motorola-mobility...
- zacharypinter 15y ago
  That's what I find interesting about this deal. It's still motivated by patent protection, but instead of putting it all in a defensive patent portfolio, they get a hardware company to innovate with as well.
- enjo 15y ago
  How is Google leading that charge exactly? From what I can tell they've been drug kicking and screaming into this mess. It simply says that they have to come up with a way to defend against the patent mess that the Apple consortium has threatened them with.
rbanffy 15y ago
A lawyer who's also an engineer is a powerful entity.
- davidedicillo 15y ago
  Am I the only one who imagined some sort of RPG character after reading this comment?
  - rbanffy 15y ago
    A character who can do magic no other can: sufficiently advanced technology.
  - thom 15y ago
    Yeah, but he'd level really slowly.
Symmetry 15y ago
Yup, after I got my masters and then got laid off I got an offer from a patent law firm to put me through law school if I'd come work for them. Patent law sort of sounded like one of the circles of Hell for me, though, so I didn't take them up.
- chopsueyar 15y ago
  What law school? Were you allowed to choose?
  - Symmetry 15y ago
    That wasn't discussed, and I imagine it would involve what I got into when I applied.

Most of them come from an engineering background (at least education), you're right. It's fascinating to me to see this shift, which Google seems to be leading, from tech companies fighting over new product development - and spending gobs of cash on it - to something entirely different: fighting over patents (and again, spending gobs of cash on it). Where a company spends its cash is a good measure of where its priorities are, and I'm not sure what that says about Google.

18pfsmt 15y ago
"It's fascinating to me to see this shift, which Google seems to be leading, from tech companies fighting over new product development...to something entirely different: fighting over patents " I thought it was Microsoft and Apple that were aggressively filing patent lawsuits, and Google and other Android partners were on the receiving end, no? One other thing I don't see being mentioned anywhere in these threads is that, "Motorola Mobility held $5.5B in cash and deferred tax assets; this could put Google's (GOOG) real purchase price around $7B."[1] [1]http://seekingalpha.com/article/278932-can-motorola-mobility-be-sustainably-profitable http://seekingalpha.com/article/278932-can-motorola-mobility...
zacharypinter 15y ago
That's what I find interesting about this deal. It's still motivated by patent protection, but instead of putting it all in a defensive patent portfolio, they get a hardware company to innovate with as well.
enjo 15y ago
How is Google leading that charge exactly? From what I can tell they've been drug kicking and screaming into this mess. It simply says that they have to come up with a way to defend against the patent mess that the Apple consortium has threatened them with.

rbanffy 15y ago

A lawyer who's also an engineer is a powerful entity.

davidedicillo 15y ago
Am I the only one who imagined some sort of RPG character after reading this comment?
- rbanffy 15y ago
  A character who can do magic no other can: sufficiently advanced technology.
- thom 15y ago
  Yeah, but he'd level really slowly.

Symmetry 15y ago

Yup, after I got my masters and then got laid off I got an offer from a patent law firm to put me through law school if I'd come work for them. Patent law sort of sounded like one of the circles of Hell for me, though, so I didn't take them up.

chopsueyar 15y ago
What law school? Were you allowed to choose?
- Symmetry 15y ago
  That wasn't discussed, and I imagine it would involve what I got into when I applied.