As one whose livelyhood and fortunes have gone from boom to bust over my lifetime, I can attest that living on the cutting edge of technology can disrupt fortunes and futures. As an individual of modest means, my only choice has been to adapt.
The power of basic computing and open networks has revolutionized and democratized. That has threatened the business of governmental tyranny and the big media oligarchy. They will use brute force to hold onto power rather than adapt to take advantage of new technology. The them, the lions share of a shrinking pie is preferable to a dominant position in a rising tide that lifts all fortunes.
New media author and self publishing pioneer Cory Doctorow presents a bleak reality that can only be overcome by the diligence of the average citizen.
In a new lawsuit, RightHaven has lost another countersuit against it to the tune of $119k for costs, legal fees and attorney’s costs. What is significant about this ruling is that RightHaven is already having trouble paying for a ~$35k lawsuit it just lost a couple of months ago. They had actually filed appeal papers that were dismissed by the 9th Circuit.
This new outcome will probably put them over the edge and into insolvency. The once the veil of the corporation is broken, and it will, Mr. Gibson, RighHaven’s CEO will see his entire assests seized.
More here.
Have a spat with a competitor? Think your IP protfolio is a tad weak? Might be your potential IP battle with Microsoft could be a problem? Well if you are Google there is a simple answer — Buy Motorola!
Larry Page, Google’s co-founder who took over as chief executive officer in April, is transforming Google into a smartphone maker to take on Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPhone and gain more clout in the wireless business. Motorola Mobility, under pressure to seek strategic changes by activist investor Carl Icahn, gives Google more than 17,000 patents the company can leverage in negotiations with competitors such as Apple.
“This is the next step in building their position in the mobile world so they can distribute Google products and services through mobile phones and tablets,” said Clayton Moran, an analyst at Benchmark Co. in Boca Raton, Florida, who recommends Google shares. “They want a success with the Android platform and this will enhance their position in the mobile marketplace, as well as defend their position through the patent portfolio.”
The article goes on to say that certain players might take a second look as to their choice of Android as a platform. Well maybe, but who you gonna play with? I would hazard that with Google preparing to own Motorola, the Symbian platform will be a dead letter. So that leaves Windows Mobile 7. Good tech, but the business partner there might be no more accomodating than Google with Android.
There could be an out for the likes of HTC — Meego. Yeah its open source, but it is a ready platform that needs some love to make it shine.
It the IT realm, consumation of this deal takes Google from an interesting new comer to industry power house in the wireless game in one move. 17000 patents on the table is nothing to sneeze at. It also totally destroys the whole argument that Motorola was going after Google for royalities. Legally one can’t sue one’s self intentionally. This also will give Microsoft some pause. Several of their wireless products use licensed Motorola IP.
This move changes the landscape at so many levels.
You be the judge. Read the findings of the Canadian judge as to the persecution that was heap on one individual. Coincidences just seem too pat.
Link.
It makes one wonder just who is on whose side.
Bernice Keebler had a simple complaint: Verizon billed her $4.19 for six “local calls” but wouldn’t tell her where she’d called – not unless she got a lawyer and a subpoena.To Keebler, that stretched the bounds of fair dealing beyond the breaking point. “I think I have the right to know what I am paying for,” she told me in a column about her case last month. Keebler likened the experience to getting a tab at a restaurant with a bottom line for “food,” but no details to review or question.
A Public Utility Commission judge agreed. In a decision released today by the PUC’s communications office, Administrative Law Judge Mary D. Long proposed fining Verizon Pennsylvania $1,000 for failing in its duty to provide “adequate customer service”:
It is a basic matter of fair business practice that a consumer should be able to contact a utility about a charge on a bill and learn what the charge is for and learn that the charge was correctly applied. The only verification that Verizon’s witness could offer that a charge like Mrs. Keebler’s $4.19 measured use charge was accurate and billed correctly was her faith in the accuracy of Verizon’s computer system. The only way that Verizon would offer any information about a past charge in response to a consumer inquiry was to require that customer to hire a lawyer and subpoena their own usage information. By no reasonable standard could this be considered reasonable customer service.
This is what I classify as corporate bullying of a customer. They don’t want to be bothered so they pull the `get a lawyer` schtick figuring the costs of legal counsil would be a deterrent to the inquiry.
This time VZ figured wrong.
Recent Comments