A couple of decades ago I was in a business that competed directly with one of Sony's divisions (not gaming). Our products were doing extremely well. It's the

A couple of decades ago I was in a business that competed directly with one of Sony's divisions (not gaming). Our products were doing extremely well. It's the old story of a small, underfunded, highly motivated team being able to run circles around a large competitor with lots of inertia and, shall we say, more bodies and less talent. Anyhow, one day I got word from one of our partner companies that they were witness to Sony making an arrangement with a major reseller in that industry segment to not feature our products at the most important tradeshows in the industry in exchange for discounts and other compensation. They must have done that with multiple vendors because that year we went from being featured in dozens of booths to almost not having any product on the show floor. I was absolutely incensed. The problem is, when you have asymmetry of financial and legal power of that magnitude the laws almost don't matter. When spending $250K on a retainer just so that a law firm will take your case puts you in financial peril, well, you have to choose your battles. They caused massive damage to us using such techniques. Anyone who doesn't believe business is a bloody contact sport isn't in touch with reality. It can get brutally ugly. I have the scars to prove it.