4 ms·

>and no other likely purchaser exists this seems like the important part of that doctrine, and a perfect justification for why an amazon acquisition shouldn't

>and no other likely purchaser exists this seems like the important part of that doctrine, and a perfect justification for why an amazon acquisition shouldn't be allowed. letting a company fail really just means letting it sink far enough that some other acquirer will pick it up.

dangerlibrary 3y ago
Or it'll just fade into oblivion, like Convoy.
- throwaway2037 3y ago
  This Convoy? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convoy_(company) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convoy_(company) If yes, it sounds rough! > On 19th October 2023, Convoy ceased operations and laid off remaining staff. Remaining staff were given no severance and were told their stock options were worthless.[9] In a memo sent that day to employees, Lewis points to "a massive freight recession and a contraction in the capital markets" as major factors resulting in the company's failure.[10]
- techie128 3y ago
  Nothing fades into oblivion. The company is obligated to liquidate its assets which includes IP. This gives a big opportunity to build new products that may be more economically viable. This would not be possible if the company would be acquired by the incumbent who will just acquire the company’s IP and sit on it.
  - ben_w 3y ago
    > The company is obligated to liquidate its assets which includes IP "We have no idea who owns this IP in order to ask for permission, because the company went bankrupt" comes up fairly often in discussions about copyright duration and video games.
  - vidarh 3y ago
    How often does acquired IP rights just end up in a lawyers filing cabinet somewhere, with nobody in the acquiring company sufficiently incentivized to do something with most of it? A lot of the time - especially with failing companies where the sale might happen at rock bottom prices, but otherwise too - the acquirer and seller may have very different ideas about which part of the transaction matters. E.g. one company I co-founded sold off a business unit after we pivoted, and where to me at least the technology was the most worthwhile part - far better than the platform the buyer had. But to them the 6% of the userbase they were able to convert to paying users of their own service was what justified the sale price. And as much as I think the tech we sold them with the userbase was better, I get that to them - even if they agreed with my assessment, and maybe they didn't - it wasn't sufficiently better to them to justify replacing what they had and knew how to develop and knew how to operate (we sold the system, not the company, so none of our staff went with them). Acquired IP gets used when it is the focus of the purchase, and the acquirer knows exactly what they want or need that IP for, but even then more so if it's e.g. patents rather than software. A lot of software acquirers thought they needed still end up languishing and eventually dying. But I've seen so much IP "fade into oblivion" over the years. I'd say, I don't even know who currently owns the rights to the majority of the software I've personally developed in my career. Some would be easy to track down. Others near impossible.

dangerlibrary 3y ago

Or it'll just fade into oblivion, like Convoy.

throwaway2037 3y ago
This Convoy? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convoy_(company) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convoy_(company) If yes, it sounds rough! > On 19th October 2023, Convoy ceased operations and laid off remaining staff. Remaining staff were given no severance and were told their stock options were worthless.[9] In a memo sent that day to employees, Lewis points to "a massive freight recession and a contraction in the capital markets" as major factors resulting in the company's failure.[10]
techie128 3y ago
Nothing fades into oblivion. The company is obligated to liquidate its assets which includes IP. This gives a big opportunity to build new products that may be more economically viable. This would not be possible if the company would be acquired by the incumbent who will just acquire the company’s IP and sit on it.
- ben_w 3y ago
  > The company is obligated to liquidate its assets which includes IP "We have no idea who owns this IP in order to ask for permission, because the company went bankrupt" comes up fairly often in discussions about copyright duration and video games.
- vidarh 3y ago
  How often does acquired IP rights just end up in a lawyers filing cabinet somewhere, with nobody in the acquiring company sufficiently incentivized to do something with most of it? A lot of the time - especially with failing companies where the sale might happen at rock bottom prices, but otherwise too - the acquirer and seller may have very different ideas about which part of the transaction matters. E.g. one company I co-founded sold off a business unit after we pivoted, and where to me at least the technology was the most worthwhile part - far better than the platform the buyer had. But to them the 6% of the userbase they were able to convert to paying users of their own service was what justified the sale price. And as much as I think the tech we sold them with the userbase was better, I get that to them - even if they agreed with my assessment, and maybe they didn't - it wasn't sufficiently better to them to justify replacing what they had and knew how to develop and knew how to operate (we sold the system, not the company, so none of our staff went with them). Acquired IP gets used when it is the focus of the purchase, and the acquirer knows exactly what they want or need that IP for, but even then more so if it's e.g. patents rather than software. A lot of software acquirers thought they needed still end up languishing and eventually dying. But I've seen so much IP "fade into oblivion" over the years. I'd say, I don't even know who currently owns the rights to the majority of the software I've personally developed in my career. Some would be easy to track down. Others near impossible.