3 ms·

Sorry for asking so bluntly but: Can someone explain to me what exactly makes Myhrvold such a dick? I mean he's already rich - and unlike some lawyers put unde

Sorry for asking so bluntly but: Can someone explain to me what exactly makes Myhrvold such a dick? I mean he's already rich - and unlike some lawyers put under the pump to do evil things he has absolutely no reason to do so.

noonespecial 14y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scorpion_and_the_Frog http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scorpion_and_the_Frog
humdumb 14y ago
My theory: He's a wannabe lawyer. As CTO at Microsoft he probably had to deal with lawyers and patent issues constantly. Maybe they upset him? Or they excited his curiousity? I could be wrong, but with IV, he is running what amounts to a patent law firm or a corporate patent department that has no corporate client. They just obtain patents and collect payments. They produce nothing, except patents and lawsuits, hiding behind shell companies. They take no risks and thus can offer no gains to society. They just collect money. They are a tax on creativity and production. You are not the only one who has pondered this question. Why? He put up his own money to finance this business.
jonny_eh 14y ago
Maybe by just luck he's found himself in possession of a business that's strength turns out to be patent trolling. He's probably rationalized to himself that what they're doing is "right", and since they're good at it, they keep doing it. The fact that it makes boat loads of money is probably secondary.
lwat 14y ago
He struck it rich with Microsoft, survived cancer, and to thank the universe for all this amazingly good luck he decided to become an asshole patent troll. Sometimes I just don't understand how people think.
dlss 14y ago
Exactly. A patent this broad is anticompetitive, and will cripple the future of the DRM industry. Clearly Myhrvold has made the world a worse place. The only thing I can think of that's worse was IBM's patenting the process of patent trolling. http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/08/01/157743897/can-you-get-a-patent-on-being-a-patent-troll http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/08/01/157743897/can-you-...
redthrowaway 14y ago
He clearly wouldn't describe himself as such, and would see himself as the good guy. Assholes never think of themselves as assholes. If they're assholes in a socially acceptable manner, then they see themselves as simply following the crowd. If they're assholes in a legally acceptable manner, they see themselves as hacking the system. If they're assholes in a manner most people detest, they may either not care, or see themselves as crusaders bringing truth to the unwashed masses. Myhrvold is an asshole in all three senses. He's a patent troll who games the system; he brings harm to everyone by "protecting business interests", and he likely sees himself as a crusader against the evils of copyright infringement perpetrated by those who are too ignorant to know better. In short, he's a grade A asshole, but he likely views himself as unjustly persecuted and justified in his actions.
PanMan 14y ago
I read an article a few years ago that did portray him as a hero: He was spending all this money on inventing new things, often across domains (having engineers create new medicine, etc). And then he was nice enough to licence these new inventions to whomever could use them, for only a modest fee! It was quite convincingly written (and before all the patent troll stories surfaced). I guess he sees himself as that person. I looked for it, and think it was this one, or a similar piece: http://www.technologyreview.com/featured-story/401437/the-invention-factory/ http://www.technologyreview.com/featured-story/401437/the-in...

noonespecial 14y ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scorpion_and_the_Frog http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scorpion_and_the_Frog

humdumb 14y ago

My theory: He's a wannabe lawyer. As CTO at Microsoft he probably had to deal with lawyers and patent issues constantly. Maybe they upset him? Or they excited his curiousity? I could be wrong, but with IV, he is running what amounts to a patent law firm or a corporate patent department that has no corporate client. They just obtain patents and collect payments. They produce nothing, except patents and lawsuits, hiding behind shell companies. They take no risks and thus can offer no gains to society. They just collect money. They are a tax on creativity and production. You are not the only one who has pondered this question. Why? He put up his own money to finance this business.

jonny_eh 14y ago

Maybe by just luck he's found himself in possession of a business that's strength turns out to be patent trolling. He's probably rationalized to himself that what they're doing is "right", and since they're good at it, they keep doing it. The fact that it makes boat loads of money is probably secondary.

lwat 14y ago

He struck it rich with Microsoft, survived cancer, and to thank the universe for all this amazingly good luck he decided to become an asshole patent troll. Sometimes I just don't understand how people think.

dlss 14y ago

Exactly. A patent this broad is anticompetitive, and will cripple the future of the DRM industry. Clearly Myhrvold has made the world a worse place. The only thing I can think of that's worse was IBM's patenting the process of patent trolling. http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/08/01/157743897/can-you-get-a-patent-on-being-a-patent-troll http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/08/01/157743897/can-you-...

redthrowaway 14y ago

He clearly wouldn't describe himself as such, and would see himself as the good guy. Assholes never think of themselves as assholes. If they're assholes in a socially acceptable manner, then they see themselves as simply following the crowd. If they're assholes in a legally acceptable manner, they see themselves as hacking the system. If they're assholes in a manner most people detest, they may either not care, or see themselves as crusaders bringing truth to the unwashed masses. Myhrvold is an asshole in all three senses. He's a patent troll who games the system; he brings harm to everyone by "protecting business interests", and he likely sees himself as a crusader against the evils of copyright infringement perpetrated by those who are too ignorant to know better. In short, he's a grade A asshole, but he likely views himself as unjustly persecuted and justified in his actions.

PanMan 14y ago

I read an article a few years ago that did portray him as a hero: He was spending all this money on inventing new things, often across domains (having engineers create new medicine, etc). And then he was nice enough to licence these new inventions to whomever could use them, for only a modest fee! It was quite convincingly written (and before all the patent troll stories surfaced). I guess he sees himself as that person. I looked for it, and think it was this one, or a similar piece: http://www.technologyreview.com/featured-story/401437/the-invention-factory/ http://www.technologyreview.com/featured-story/401437/the-in...