4 ms·
It's worth reading the link about the patent he won $150m on: http://www.law.com/jsp/cc/PubArticleCC.jsp?id=1202425204868 http://www.law.com/jsp/cc/PubArticleCC
by petewarden 17y ago
It's worth reading the link about the patent he won $150m on:
http://www.law.com/jsp/cc/PubArticleCC.jsp?id=1202425204868 http://www.law.com/jsp/cc/PubArticleCC.jsp?id=1202425204868
They sued because Sony and Microsoft's controllers vibrated. I'm not sure this patent is the poster child for why the IP system is awesome. I love Steve's work, but I'd like to see some acknowledgement that there might be a wider cost to society from chasing patents like these.
- petewarden 17y agoI did some more digging, and found this PDF presentation on the case: http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~tlavian/spring2009/studentsPresentations/IEOR%20190G%20-%20Jerry%20Zhang%20-%20Immersion%20v.%20Sony%20Presentation.pdf http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~tlavian/spring2009/studentsPrese... There's some clear prior art, especially the Nintendo Rumble Pak, so it's pretty hard to take this as an example of IP law rewarding creativity.
- ynniv 17y agoMy interpretation is that IP is something that you have to deal with, even if you don't think it matters. The ways that he suggests you deal with it are to (a) explicitly assign IP early, (b) document external communications of novel ideas and file provisional patents before one year is up, (c) be aware of IP when negotiating with contractors and customers. Those sound reasonable even for startups, and will hopefully keep you out of trouble (or provide unexpected value) later on. IP is unlikely to pay out, but so is your startup.