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According to the article, IBM and Microsoft are notable for their portfolio size and lobbying budgets: > And few firms have larger software patent portfolios t

by sheetjs 13y ago

According to the article, IBM and Microsoft are notable for their portfolio size and lobbying budgets: > And few firms have larger software patent portfolios than Microsoft and IBM. These companies, which also happen to have two of the software industry's largest lobbying budgets, have been leading voices against the expansion of the CBM program. I can believe that IBM does far more software patent lobbying than most of the firms whose core products are not directly software related

mathattack 13y ago
I can believe that IBM does far more software patent lobbying than most of the firms whose core products are not directly software related This is in part because they have a heavy patent culture, perhaps due to their legacy as a machines company.
- Nursie 13y ago
  The culture is there because they make serious money from licensing. Also so if anyone comes after them for anything patent related then big blue have effectively got the nuclear option at their disposal and can wipe the aggressor off the map.
shooper 13y ago
>According to the article, IBM and Microsoft are notable for their portfolio size and lobbying budgets This is what tech companies spent in Q3 2013, maybe someone else can post IBM's stats but Microsoft's spending doesn't look all that high to me. Google 3.4M Microsoft 2.2M Facebook 1.7M Apple 0.97M Amazon 0.78M I think the real story is how cheap the lobbying costs are. What I completely fail to understand with all the Snowden revelations and stories like this is that Silicon Valley tech folks have enormous salaries and high disposable income. If they would actually contribute some of that to a PAC or to the EFF, it would be way more productive than sitting in Starbucks sipping a $5 latte and posting "Not going to get the Xbox from M$. Getting a PS4 for $400 + games for $60 each instead! That's going to teach them! And Bill Gates sucks despite helping the poorest people in Africa and India!" from their latest MacBook or iPad Air on HN articles such as these(you can see those posts below). I guess gathering HN karma feels better and is cheaper than actually trying to make a real difference on issues that people seem to write emotional posts about. Having seen a lot of such issues and discussions from my Slashdot days, my prediction is that nothing will come out of it except a lot of hot air discussion.
- logn 13y ago
  That's their budget on paper. Donors don't have to disclose all their donations: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/29/dark-money-2012-election_n_1708127.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/29/dark-money-2012-ele... ... nonprofits like Crossroads GPS and trade associations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are allowed to keep their donors secret. As a result, there is a great flood of campaign spending this election cycle for which there is no official paper trail. I don't think the proper response of rich Valley people is to ramp up their donations to PACs unless it's the Wolf-PAC which is organizing to pass a Constitutional amendment to reform campaign finance and lobbying: http://www.wolf-pac.com/ http://www.wolf-pac.com/
  - leoc 13y ago
    Soft jobs for favoured ex-politicians and ex-bureaucrats won't show up as campaign or lobbying expenditure either. Oh, and then there are the insider trading tips too.
  - shooper 13y ago
    I believe that's true for contributions from private companies who don't have to report their earnings. Maybe a finance guru can pitch in, but don't public companies like IBM and Microsoft have to declare such donations in their earnings statements?
  - Joeri 13y ago
    They are at least focusing on the heart of the matter: corporate personhood. Get rid of that, and you open the door for all the other reforms. As long as amoral, immortal and extremely powerful entities like corporations get equal rights as human beings, it is unavoidable that the laws, including patent law, are forced along amoral pathways. Software patent reform is battling a symptom, not the cause.
- cgag 13y ago
  Yes, most people here make absurds amount of money and rage against this kind of thing but for some reason are super hesitant to actually donate to people fighting for things they believe in. If you're a developer, please consider making a monthly donation to the EFF. https://supporters.eff.org/donate https://supporters.eff.org/donate

by sheetjs 13y ago

mathattack 13y ago

I can believe that IBM does far more software patent lobbying than most of the firms whose core products are not directly software related This is in part because they have a heavy patent culture, perhaps due to their legacy as a machines company.

Nursie 13y ago
The culture is there because they make serious money from licensing. Also so if anyone comes after them for anything patent related then big blue have effectively got the nuclear option at their disposal and can wipe the aggressor off the map.

shooper 13y ago

>According to the article, IBM and Microsoft are notable for their portfolio size and lobbying budgets This is what tech companies spent in Q3 2013, maybe someone else can post IBM's stats but Microsoft's spending doesn't look all that high to me. Google 3.4M Microsoft 2.2M Facebook 1.7M Apple 0.97M Amazon 0.78M I think the real story is how cheap the lobbying costs are. What I completely fail to understand with all the Snowden revelations and stories like this is that Silicon Valley tech folks have enormous salaries and high disposable income. If they would actually contribute some of that to a PAC or to the EFF, it would be way more productive than sitting in Starbucks sipping a $5 latte and posting "Not going to get the Xbox from M$. Getting a PS4 for $400 + games for $60 each instead! That's going to teach them! And Bill Gates sucks despite helping the poorest people in Africa and India!" from their latest MacBook or iPad Air on HN articles such as these(you can see those posts below). I guess gathering HN karma feels better and is cheaper than actually trying to make a real difference on issues that people seem to write emotional posts about. Having seen a lot of such issues and discussions from my Slashdot days, my prediction is that nothing will come out of it except a lot of hot air discussion.

logn 13y ago
That's their budget on paper. Donors don't have to disclose all their donations: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/29/dark-money-2012-election_n_1708127.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/29/dark-money-2012-ele... ... nonprofits like Crossroads GPS and trade associations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are allowed to keep their donors secret. As a result, there is a great flood of campaign spending this election cycle for which there is no official paper trail. I don't think the proper response of rich Valley people is to ramp up their donations to PACs unless it's the Wolf-PAC which is organizing to pass a Constitutional amendment to reform campaign finance and lobbying: http://www.wolf-pac.com/ http://www.wolf-pac.com/
- leoc 13y ago
  Soft jobs for favoured ex-politicians and ex-bureaucrats won't show up as campaign or lobbying expenditure either. Oh, and then there are the insider trading tips too.
- shooper 13y ago
  I believe that's true for contributions from private companies who don't have to report their earnings. Maybe a finance guru can pitch in, but don't public companies like IBM and Microsoft have to declare such donations in their earnings statements?
- Joeri 13y ago
  They are at least focusing on the heart of the matter: corporate personhood. Get rid of that, and you open the door for all the other reforms. As long as amoral, immortal and extremely powerful entities like corporations get equal rights as human beings, it is unavoidable that the laws, including patent law, are forced along amoral pathways. Software patent reform is battling a symptom, not the cause.
cgag 13y ago
Yes, most people here make absurds amount of money and rage against this kind of thing but for some reason are super hesitant to actually donate to people fighting for things they believe in. If you're a developer, please consider making a monthly donation to the EFF. https://supporters.eff.org/donate https://supporters.eff.org/donate