6 ms·

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

• WalterGR 11y 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 11y 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 11y 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 11y 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).