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I liked Paul Allen more before he decided to become a patent troll. http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703294904575385241453119382 http://www.wsj.com/

I liked Paul Allen more before he decided to become a patent troll. http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703294904575385241453119382 http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100014240527487032949045753852...

higherpurpose 12y ago
The upside is that he became one only after Microsoft itself turned into one.
- WalterGR 12y ago
  With the recent many posts about Microsoft I've seen several people accuse MS of this. I don't remember patent trolling being in the laundry list from my days reading Slashdot. Can anyone shed some light on what these comments may be referring to?
  - danieldk 12y ago
    I think what they are probably referring to is the patent tax that is paid for every Android phone: https://gigaom.com/2014/06/16/patents-that-fuel-microsofts-android-tax-revealed-in-chinese-blog-post/ https://gigaom.com/2014/06/16/patents-that-fuel-microsofts-a... But that does not make Microsoft is not a patent troll[1], since it also produces hardware/software that it is covered by the same patents. Whether patents are any good is a different discussion. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_troll https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_troll
    - WalterGR 12y ago
      Interesting. I hadn't heard about that. How much is known overall about the 'taxes' that the mobile players pay each other? The lawsuit timeline is pretty crazy: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone_patent_wars http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone_patent_wars
  - anonbanker 12y ago
    Jonathan Schwartz of Sun has many blog posts about Microsoft using patent trolling as a licensing negotiation tactic. Also, SCO vs. IBM (which Microsoft helped bankroll).
pilsetnieks 12y ago
Aren't you confusing Paul Allen with Nathan Myhrvold? It seems that Allen's company actually developed the concepts it holds the patents for; Myhrvolds' Intellectual Ventures is the one buying up patents and making a business of licensing them under threat of lawsuit. Just because a company is suing someone for patent violation doesn't make them a patent troll.
- joslin01 12y ago
  I'm confused about this distinction between Paul & Nathan? >Mr. Allen's lawsuit comes amid high-profile successes of firms such as NTP Inc., which enforce patents without making products and have been called "patent trolls" by critics. What is this distinction supposed to serve? I see "Mr. Allen's lawsuit" and I also see that he purposefully kept Amazon & Microsoft out, which means he must be involved somehow personally. > Another Microsoft veteran, former chief technology officer Nathan Myhrvold, has amassed thousands of patents and secured hundreds of millions of dollars in patent-licensing deals from telecommunications companies and others. Mr. Myhrvold's Seattle-based firm Intellectual Ventures patents some of its inventions but also acquires patents to license. Ok... yes Nathan is doing that separately. This is about Paul.
jfuhrman 12y ago
He also gave at least $100 million to Ebola, $500 million to charity, and funded several health science and general science initiatives. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Allen#Paul_G._Allen_Family_Foundation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Allen#Paul_G._Allen_Family... >Paul Allen has given more than $1.8 billion towards the advancement of science, technology, education, wildlife conservation, the arts and community services in his lifetime.[28] In 2010, Allen became a signatory of The Giving Pledge, promising to give at least half of his fortune to philanthropic causes.[29] In December 2014, Inside Philanthropy named Allen as their "Philanthropist of the Year;"[27] Allen's direct giving in 2013 totaled $206 million.[30] People are not one dimensional creatures.
- jestinjoy1 12y ago
  Why not he release Microsoft products for free! Instead of doing like US govt (Killing people on one side and doing charity on another side), he could do something best he could do in his field.
  - dpark 12y ago
    What does that even mean? Like, Paul Allen should just pay for all the expenses Microsoft incurs to develop its products and then Microsoft can give them all away for free instead? That will work out great. Paul Allen can pay for everything for a few months and then he can run out of money and Microsoft can shut down and lay off 110K employees, 200K with contractors factored in.
    - jestinjoy1 12y ago
      Just like GNU/Linux he could release the whole thing is a community developed software
      - dpark 12y ago
        Sure, he could do that if he had any kind of legal right to do so, which he does not. If all of Paul Allen's net worth were in Microsoft stock (and it certainly is not), he'd own less than 5% of the company at this point. Paul Allen couldn't release all of Microsoft's code any more than I could. And of course, even if it were possible, Microsoft would need to come up with a new way to generate the 87 billion dollars in revenue it just lost, or else lay off 200 thousand people.

higherpurpose 12y ago

The upside is that he became one only after Microsoft itself turned into one.

WalterGR 12y ago
With the recent many posts about Microsoft I've seen several people accuse MS of this. I don't remember patent trolling being in the laundry list from my days reading Slashdot. Can anyone shed some light on what these comments may be referring to?
- danieldk 12y ago
  I think what they are probably referring to is the patent tax that is paid for every Android phone: https://gigaom.com/2014/06/16/patents-that-fuel-microsofts-android-tax-revealed-in-chinese-blog-post/ https://gigaom.com/2014/06/16/patents-that-fuel-microsofts-a... But that does not make Microsoft is not a patent troll[1], since it also produces hardware/software that it is covered by the same patents. Whether patents are any good is a different discussion. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_troll https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_troll
  - WalterGR 12y ago
    Interesting. I hadn't heard about that. How much is known overall about the 'taxes' that the mobile players pay each other? The lawsuit timeline is pretty crazy: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone_patent_wars http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone_patent_wars
- anonbanker 12y ago
  Jonathan Schwartz of Sun has many blog posts about Microsoft using patent trolling as a licensing negotiation tactic. Also, SCO vs. IBM (which Microsoft helped bankroll).

pilsetnieks 12y ago

Aren't you confusing Paul Allen with Nathan Myhrvold? It seems that Allen's company actually developed the concepts it holds the patents for; Myhrvolds' Intellectual Ventures is the one buying up patents and making a business of licensing them under threat of lawsuit. Just because a company is suing someone for patent violation doesn't make them a patent troll.

joslin01 12y ago
I'm confused about this distinction between Paul & Nathan? >Mr. Allen's lawsuit comes amid high-profile successes of firms such as NTP Inc., which enforce patents without making products and have been called "patent trolls" by critics. What is this distinction supposed to serve? I see "Mr. Allen's lawsuit" and I also see that he purposefully kept Amazon & Microsoft out, which means he must be involved somehow personally. > Another Microsoft veteran, former chief technology officer Nathan Myhrvold, has amassed thousands of patents and secured hundreds of millions of dollars in patent-licensing deals from telecommunications companies and others. Mr. Myhrvold's Seattle-based firm Intellectual Ventures patents some of its inventions but also acquires patents to license. Ok... yes Nathan is doing that separately. This is about Paul.

jfuhrman 12y ago

He also gave at least $100 million to Ebola, $500 million to charity, and funded several health science and general science initiatives. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Allen#Paul_G._Allen_Family_Foundation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Allen#Paul_G._Allen_Family... >Paul Allen has given more than $1.8 billion towards the advancement of science, technology, education, wildlife conservation, the arts and community services in his lifetime.[28] In 2010, Allen became a signatory of The Giving Pledge, promising to give at least half of his fortune to philanthropic causes.[29] In December 2014, Inside Philanthropy named Allen as their "Philanthropist of the Year;"[27] Allen's direct giving in 2013 totaled $206 million.[30] People are not one dimensional creatures.

jestinjoy1 12y ago
Why not he release Microsoft products for free! Instead of doing like US govt (Killing people on one side and doing charity on another side), he could do something best he could do in his field.
- dpark 12y ago
  What does that even mean? Like, Paul Allen should just pay for all the expenses Microsoft incurs to develop its products and then Microsoft can give them all away for free instead? That will work out great. Paul Allen can pay for everything for a few months and then he can run out of money and Microsoft can shut down and lay off 110K employees, 200K with contractors factored in.
  - jestinjoy1 12y ago
    Just like GNU/Linux he could release the whole thing is a community developed software
    - dpark 12y ago
      Sure, he could do that if he had any kind of legal right to do so, which he does not. If all of Paul Allen's net worth were in Microsoft stock (and it certainly is not), he'd own less than 5% of the company at this point. Paul Allen couldn't release all of Microsoft's code any more than I could. And of course, even if it were possible, Microsoft would need to come up with a new way to generate the 87 billion dollars in revenue it just lost, or else lay off 200 thousand people.