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I really don't understand what their weak market position has to do with this lawsuit. If Yahoo! believes Facebook violated their patents, they will sue. They _

I really don't understand what their weak market position has to do with this lawsuit. If Yahoo! believes Facebook violated their patents, they will sue. They _should_ sue. They do it now because apparently that's the way new CEO does the business. I can't blame him, can you? Now, whether FW post was an emotional rant or he has any business saying what he said, hard to judge. But I read his blog for a while now and don't recall last time stumbling at such an emotional rant. Further, whether patent system needs "reform in this country" is relevant to the fact that one part believes other part infringe. If Yahoo!, Facebook or anyone else feels someone infringe and ended up saying "oh they system is broken lets wait until its fixed", then they may as well wait another 75 years. I say good things can come up from this, especially if Yahoo! loses. Facebook is claiming that what they are being sued over was "nothing new" at that time. Cool! Have them win. Next time someone build highly successful social website with human connections done based on request/approve/reject, and Facebook will try to shut them down based on infringe of one of their hundreds of patents, you can say: "oh, none of this was new at the time of Facebook: MySpace, Fridndster, etc. Here, I am using Facebook own rules - they win, I need to win too".

guard-of-terra 15y ago
No it should not. It's as if you said, if Yahoo has a gun, it should fire at Facebook. Tech companies do not make their living by exploiting their patents directly (as e.g. pharma companies do). They make living from advertising to their userbase. They do patent some things they use to keep and monetize that usebase, but there is no direct relation. So: Of course they should not sue "by default". It just isn't a winning strategy for them.
- joering2 15y ago
  so as long as I do a business in tech, I should not care about anyones patents (or IP in that matter) -- just open the patent book and look what I can steal (sorry: take) from others and use it to build my own tech company. Okay then.
  - guard-of-terra 15y ago
    You don't need to open the patent book for that. Patents are written in such horrible language that you should not bother. The signal to noise ratio is pathetic. Instead - yes, you just open the HN and look what you cak take from others and use it to build your own tech company. That's what you do. Are you new?
    - joering2 15y ago
      yes I am new. Today I learnt that HN society hates patents and everything related to it (which kind of make sense). Lost 10% of my karma in couple minutes over 3 posts I wrote.

guard-of-terra 15y ago

No it should not. It's as if you said, if Yahoo has a gun, it should fire at Facebook. Tech companies do not make their living by exploiting their patents directly (as e.g. pharma companies do). They make living from advertising to their userbase. They do patent some things they use to keep and monetize that usebase, but there is no direct relation. So: Of course they should not sue "by default". It just isn't a winning strategy for them.

joering2 15y ago
so as long as I do a business in tech, I should not care about anyones patents (or IP in that matter) -- just open the patent book and look what I can steal (sorry: take) from others and use it to build my own tech company. Okay then.
- guard-of-terra 15y ago
  You don't need to open the patent book for that. Patents are written in such horrible language that you should not bother. The signal to noise ratio is pathetic. Instead - yes, you just open the HN and look what you cak take from others and use it to build your own tech company. That's what you do. Are you new?
  - joering2 15y ago
    yes I am new. Today I learnt that HN society hates patents and everything related to it (which kind of make sense). Lost 10% of my karma in couple minutes over 3 posts I wrote.