3 ms·

This is an odd request. Microsoft is asserting their legal right to enforce patents which give them the ability to license technology for which they have a gov

This is an odd request. Microsoft is asserting their legal right to enforce patents which give them the ability to license technology for which they have a government granted monopoly. If the patents are trivial and outmoded then get them overturned. If not, be thankful that Microsoft is willing to license them to you. They have no obligation to license these with reasonable terms (which they seem to be), much less at all.

scott_s 15y ago
B&N's request sounds reasonable to me. It sounds like MS is being cagey about what the infringement actually is. From the article: Another letter, from Barnes & Noble's general counsel, Eugene V. DeFelice, to James J. Tierney, chief of the Networks and Technology Enforcement Section in the Justice Department's Antitrust Division, details Microsoft's method of pushing for a patent-licensing deal. DeFelice wrote that Microsoft accused Barnes & Noble of infringing on six patents at a July 2010 meeting. "When Barnes & Noble asked Microsoft for more detailed information related to these patents, Microsoft refused, claiming that the information was confidential and could not be shared, unless Barnes & Noble first executed a nondisclosure agreement," DeFelice wrote. This sound dangerously like a "I have a list of names" tactic. The patents have been filed and (I assume) granted. How B&N infringes on the publicly-known patents shouldn't be confidential - if we grant MS that, then what prevents a company from making it up?
- rbanffy 15y ago
  This kind of tactic is specifically designed to effectively prevent other companies in similar situation to organize a collective defense against the patents or to correct the alleged infringement by working around the patents and, instead, increases the likelihood of them being forced into agreements. The patents are public and so should be the allegations of infringement.
  - kenjackson 15y ago
    Exactly, patents are public. BN can examine all patents held by MS. At any point MS can threaten BN with any patent in their portfolio. MS has no legal obligation to disclose to them ahead of time which patent they are violating in our current legal system. If this goes to court then it will be public, but until then companies have a legal right to conduct business in private.
    - rbanffy 15y ago
      > BN can examine all patents held by MS You know how ludicrous this is. "You have done something wrong, but I won't tell you what". This is how 6-year-olds do business. I expected Microsoft's legal to employ adults.
    - scott_s 15y ago
      BN can examine all patents held by MS. In theory, yes. In practice, this is infeasible.

scott_s 15y ago

B&N's request sounds reasonable to me. It sounds like MS is being cagey about what the infringement actually is. From the article: Another letter, from Barnes & Noble's general counsel, Eugene V. DeFelice, to James J. Tierney, chief of the Networks and Technology Enforcement Section in the Justice Department's Antitrust Division, details Microsoft's method of pushing for a patent-licensing deal. DeFelice wrote that Microsoft accused Barnes & Noble of infringing on six patents at a July 2010 meeting. "When Barnes & Noble asked Microsoft for more detailed information related to these patents, Microsoft refused, claiming that the information was confidential and could not be shared, unless Barnes & Noble first executed a nondisclosure agreement," DeFelice wrote. This sound dangerously like a "I have a list of names" tactic. The patents have been filed and (I assume) granted. How B&N infringes on the publicly-known patents shouldn't be confidential - if we grant MS that, then what prevents a company from making it up?

rbanffy 15y ago
This kind of tactic is specifically designed to effectively prevent other companies in similar situation to organize a collective defense against the patents or to correct the alleged infringement by working around the patents and, instead, increases the likelihood of them being forced into agreements. The patents are public and so should be the allegations of infringement.
- kenjackson 15y ago
  Exactly, patents are public. BN can examine all patents held by MS. At any point MS can threaten BN with any patent in their portfolio. MS has no legal obligation to disclose to them ahead of time which patent they are violating in our current legal system. If this goes to court then it will be public, but until then companies have a legal right to conduct business in private.
  - rbanffy 15y ago
    > BN can examine all patents held by MS You know how ludicrous this is. "You have done something wrong, but I won't tell you what". This is how 6-year-olds do business. I expected Microsoft's legal to employ adults.
  - scott_s 15y ago
    BN can examine all patents held by MS. In theory, yes. In practice, this is infeasible.