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What matters is that when the messenger is so obviously self-serving and hypocritical it dilutes the message and leads a casual observer to look for the hidden
by evgen 14y ago
What matters is that when the messenger is so obviously self-serving and hypocritical it dilutes the message and leads a casual observer to look for the hidden agenda for others who carry the same message. Now that Amazon has used the patent system as a cudgel to achieve a stable position in the market it fears having other companies do to it what it once did to them, Now that Google has used its patents to achieve a solid lock on the search and search advertising market the benefits of strong patents seem less compelling to the founders & board members of that company. If you want credibility then talk about patent reform on the way up, not once you have reached the top and no longer need them to maintain your dominance.
- smokeyj 14y agoWhich patent did amazon need to "maintain their dominance"? Did they patent customer service?
- GFischer 14y agoThey used the One-Click patent against their then biggest rival Barnes & Noble http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1-Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1-Click Several organizations have boycotted Amazon for that: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/amazon.html http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/amazon.html
- smokeyj 14y agoThats pretty low, but only reinforces the notions that IP is bad for consumers.
- Shamanmuni 14y ago1-Click purchases, which is close in ridiculousness. Buying stuff online clicking once was such an outstanding innovation that it surely deserved protection from all those thieves who never could have figured that out by themselves...
- drucken 14y agoSo, if Apple, Google, Microsoft, IBM and all of the other or some subset of the large software companies came out today to say the same thing or completely endorse Amazon CEO's point of view, you would dismiss their message just as equally for who they are and their history?...
- masklinn 14y agolikely not, because they are already in "the battle" and have been on both ends of the barrel, they're not on the outside looking in and considering that they'd prefer not eating a broadside.
- majorlazer 14y agoThat would be a very different context. You can't just take the same story and apply it to a different subset of companies. If Apple were to do this, it would be a very different situation since by doing so, they risk losing market share. Amazon won't lose anything from this, they can only gain.
- kps 14y agoTwo of those four do, more or less, via the Coalition for Patent Fairness — http://www.patentfairness.org/learn/who/supporters/ http://www.patentfairness.org/learn/who/supporters/ (Disclaimer: my employer is also a member, and I approve, but play no part.)