Say It Ain't So, Woz: Steve Wozniak Says Patent Trolls Are Okay

from the too-bad dept

Tue, Aug 31st 2010 1:28pm — Mike Masnick

Via Joe Mullin, we learn the rather unfortunate news that, when asked about Paul Allen's decision to sue lots of big tech companies over questionable patents, Wozniak comes out in favor of "patent trolls" and patent holders suing companies who actually innovate. For someone so beloved by the tech community, these statements seem really unfortunate. He starts out by repeating the myth that patents somehow help out the small guy (ignoring that we're talking about Paul Allen, one of the richest guys on the planet):

I think this lawsuit represents the idea that hey, patents, individual inventors, they don't have the funds to go up against big companies. So he's sorta representing some original investors. And I'm not at all against the idea of patent trolls.

The interviewer, from Bloomberg TV, pushes back pretty quickly, pointing out that Paul Allen is not the inventor and there's no indication that the inventors on these patents would actually get any of the money should Allen succeed. Woz's response is again disappointing, saying that Allen "represents inventors." Nearly everything that Woz talks about comes off as really uninformed about the patent world today. For example, the interviewer notes that dealing with patents has become a "cost of doing business" and Woz seems to think that's a good thing:

Every tech company is very aware that patents are really the heart of our innovation and invention system and (a) that you have to have your own patent position and you gotta be aware that there might be others. And, yes, you might be infringing. It's very awkward, because some patents are so general. It's hard to say how they'll be interpreted. There's a lot of ambiguity in the system.

So, wait, patents are the heart of the system, but there's a ton of ambiguity. Can someone ship Woz a copy of Bessen and Meurer's Patent Failure quickly, so he can learn about the stacks upon stacks of research that have shown that "ambiguity in the system" now costs society a hell of a lot more than any innovation created by it?

Of course, back in Wozniak's autobiography, he talked about how much of a success Apple was without relying patents at the very beginning. Too bad he's now forgotten that.

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Filed Under: innovation, patent trolls, patents, paul allen, steve wozniak

20 Comments

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interval, 31 Aug 2010 @ 1:55pm

Heh
Wozniak is an old troll. He hasn't been relevant since the Power PC.
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Tor (profile), 31 Aug 2010 @ 2:40pm

So I guess he's basically saying that we have a system suffering from a heart disease then ;)
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Tim, 31 Aug 2010 @ 2:41pm

Just a note.
Just as you don't ask an artist to do your taxes, you don't ask an engineer about patents. I wouldn't want his opinion on them if he was right or wrong.
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crade (profile), 31 Aug 2010 @ 3:07pm

Re: Just a note.
The funny thing is your right. In fact, not just engineers, don't ask anyone who invents or innovates about patents.
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Anonymous Coward, 31 Aug 2010 @ 3:35pm

Re: Heh
He's rich, he's popular, and he left behind a hell of a legacy. I doubt he cares about how relevant some random guy who calls himself "interval" thinks he is.
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Anonymous Coward, 31 Aug 2010 @ 3:40pm

I lost a bit of respect for the man right now.

It must be something to do with his other half(Steve Jobs).
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AdamR (profile), 31 Aug 2010 @ 3:53pm

Guess life on the D-List not working out for Woz. I knew his mind would turn to cottage cheese when he started banging Kathy Griffin(the comedian)
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Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 31 Aug 2010 @ 5:06pm

Re: Just a note.
And you wouldn�t ask a Tim to do your analogies, either.
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Anonymous Coward, 31 Aug 2010 @ 6:31pm

That's disappointing.
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step back, 1 Sep 2010 @ 1:53am

Re: Just a note.
@Tim.

Guess what?

The Maz, just like the Woz, is no patent attorney either.
You just posted a comment that basically says you don't want to listen to the Maz's "opinions" about patents.

But then again, as Tina Turner used to sing, Woz logic got to do with it, got to do with it? It's just Maz's second hand emotion. :-)
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step back, 1 Sep 2010 @ 2:02am

Et tu ?
OMFG !

Every anti-patents Caesar here must be thinking to himself, this is a true stab in the royal back.
Et tu Woz ... niak?
Oh for sooth, how could thou have foresaken us?
Say it ain't so Woz.
Say it ain't so.

(It's so.) ROFLMPPAO

((PP= pro patents))
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angry dude, 1 Sep 2010 @ 6:52am

Techdirt imbeciles
Allen does not represent inventors.
He owns the result of their work for hire via patents
He paid them pretty decent salaries during the good old days of Interval Research and now he owns their work and can do whatever he wants with it - sell, license or sue
This is the essence of capitalism

Simple, idiots ?
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Mike42 (profile), 1 Sep 2010 @ 7:44am

Re: Techdirt imbeciles
Wrong dude, you're supposed to sell the fruits of your labor, NOT the ability to produce said fruits.

You seem to have capitalism confused with imperialism.
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interval (profile), 1 Sep 2010 @ 8:19am

Re: Re: Heh
this random guy is a consumer. That's all the care he needs to invest in.
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staff, 1 Sep 2010 @ 10:22am

Call it what you will
Call it what you will...patent hoarder, patent troll, non-practicing entity, etc. It all means one thing: �we�re using your invention and we�re not going to pay�.

For the truth about trolls, please see http://truereform.piausa.org.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Sep 2010 @ 10:56am

Re: Call it what you will
If by "using your invention" you mean "coming up with the the completely obvious solution on our own," then sure.
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burdlaw, 1 Sep 2010 @ 11:02am

Right On, Wozniak
A small inventor can't sue on his own. He needs a contingent fee litigator or a Paul Allen to take on the big thieves and stop their "We're using your invention and we're not going to pay" game. Allen sure as hell does represent inventors in this case. Woz is right, so "Right on, Woz." Big guys need to either innovate or pay those who do (directly or indirectly, as here). Otherwise, small inventors never get rewarded for inventing and, by the way, they are the primary ones doing the inventing. What is needed is a more effective way to quickly resolve infringement claims at reduced cost, not to just stomp on the small guys and steal their inventions. Apparently many of you commentators just don't get it!

Also ROFLMPPAO

((PP= pro patents)
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step back, 1 Sep 2010 @ 11:35am

Re: Right On, Wozniak (bottom line)
Big Boys sue each other for patent infringement all the time.

You don't see the Maz crying corporate shill tears when some big oil company sues another for deep water drill technology infringement.

Yet the Maz has "special" rules for his "special" friends. He insists that they should somehow be immune from the market forces that all other players have to play by.

The Woz is right.

That much is plain, simple and inescapable logic.
A small inventor has a right, just like anybody else, to monetize the value of his patent assets. And if the market is such that the small inventor chooses (with his free market will) to sell to Paul Allen, or whomever, that's just the way the free market cookie crumbles. Why cry about it and the spilled milk now? It is absolute hypocrisy to argue that there should be special rules for special friends. Yet that, dear friends, is the bottom line to Maz's rants here against "software" patents. Special rules for special friends.
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Vic Kley, 1 Sep 2010 @ 11:51am

Woz is much, much wiser then Masnick
Gee here is our choice:

Believe Woz who has been there and done that more then once or Masnick and some academics and other paid BS slingers whose knowledge of creating new things is apparently nanoscale.

Why don't you ask Woz your questions? Right like he would even answer your email assuming you could get it in front of him.

Woz is honest, this is not the response Apple wanted to hear and you can bet Woz will be a witness in the Apple trial if it isn't settled.
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Jeremy2020 (profile), 5 Sep 2010 @ 11:08am

Whoa, when did Wozniak not tow the company line? Just like when he said the iphone had no problems making calls, right?
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