Woz Completely Changes Tune On Patent Trolling From Just Months Ago
from the is-that-the-same-woz? dept
We were really surprised a few months ago when Steve Wozniak spoke out in support of patent trolling. In particular, he was supporting Paul Allen's decision to sue a bunch of companies over some very questionable patents. At the time, he said: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.... 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.Personally, I was a bit surprised that story didn't get more attention. Woz tends to be so beloved in the parts of Silicon Valley that don't like patents that I thought it would generate some discussion. However... now JJ points us to the news that Woz seems to have done a complete about face on Paul Allen's lawsuits and patent trolling in general, coming out pretty strongly against both. Oddly, neither he nor the reporter covering the story seems to note that just months ago, he was saying exactly the opposite. From the coverage at TheRegister:
"That patent-troll thing," Wozniak, said, introducing his first story. "The other night Paul Allen was speaking at the Computer History Museum and I had four tickets. And I decided at the last minute not to go, because I remembered he's suing all these companies like Apple and Google – but he's not suing Microsoft – because he bought all these patents."Elsewhere he said: "A lot of patents are pretty much not worth that much... In other words, any fifth-grader could come up with the same approach."
From Wozniak's point of view, Allen's lawsuit will not help anyone except Allen and his lawyers. "Well heck," he said, "Paul Allen should be out there investing in companies that are doing something, making products, actually making a new future for the world, and not 'I'm ... going to sue people, and get in bed with the lawyers to make my money.' That's not the right way."
I certainly like this version of Woz better, but I'm sort of at a loss as to how to figure out which is the real Woz. So... what is it? Is Woz happy with patent trolls like Paul Allen, or so upset by them that he won't go see him speak? Will the real Woz please stand up?
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Filed Under: patent trolls, patents, paul allen, steve wozniak
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Woz is an interesting figure and while I don't find it odd for someone to change their opinion on a subject given better information and I personally think highly enough of him to believe he's the kind of person that could change his opinion given better information, it's highly unlikely that he didn't have the same information now that he had then sitting in front of him.
The more likely explanation is, who was in the room at the time he said it?
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A thought
I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt that he recognized patent trolling as a flawed concept. Maybe he feels strongly for original developers, but after seeing what was going on, he thought this way wasn't going to help the situation.
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The real question..
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Maybe they're consistent
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Re: Maybe they're consistent
He was discussing the same case.
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Re: Maybe they're consistent
and exactly what is this distinction?
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Re: Maybe they're consistent
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Maybe the difference is in who is getting sued.
The second comment notes that Allen is not suing Microsoft.
Maybe it is ok to patent troll if you are a little guy fighting a large company (social consciousness), but not just for the sake of suing for money.
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Re: Maybe the difference is in who is getting sued.
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Re: Maybe the difference is in who is getting sued.
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Re: Maybe the difference is in who is getting sued.
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iWoz
I'd almost bet the case of Woz supporting patent trolling was yet another misquote.
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Re: iWoz
It wasn't. That one there's actually video showing him saying what he did. It wasn't a misquote. You can see the video yourself:
http://www.bloomberg.com/video/62527472/
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Re: Re: iWoz
I love listening to the guy (he does seem genuinely nice) and feel like the first few posters were probably in the right ballpark. He probably thought about his position, gathered more information after taking a little flack from some friends of his, and changed his mind.
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Re: Re: Re: iWoz
I'm just sayin...
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Re: iWoz
Maybe someone in Silicon Valley had a discussion with him and he genuinely changed his mind.
Given the opinion he had previously expressed, and the opinion he now holds, and his early bad experience with a bad patent, I'm willing to give him the benefit of any doubt. Maybe nothing sinister has or is going on.
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¿Has anyone?
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restraint of trade
http://www.macworld.com/article/159664/2011/05/apple_google_adobe_intel_pay.html
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”. This is just dissembling by large infringers to kill any inventor support system. It is purely about legalizing theft.
Prior to eBay v Mercexchange, small entities had a viable chance at commercializing their inventions. If the defendant was found guilty, an injunction was most always issued. Then the inventor small entity could enjoy the exclusive use of his invention in commercializing it. Unfortunately, injunctions are often no longer available to small entity inventors because of the Supreme Court decision so we have no fair chance to compete with much larger entities who are now free to use our inventions. Worse yet, inability to commercialize means those same small entities will not be hiring new employees to roll out their products and services. And now some of those same parties who killed injunctions for small entities and thus blocked their chance at commercializing now complain that small entity inventors are not commercializing. They created the problem and now they want to blame small entities for it. What dissembling! If you don’t like this state of affairs (your unemployment is running out), tell your Congress member. Then maybe we can get some sense back in the patent system with injunctions fully enforceable on all infringers by all inventors, large and small.
For the truth about trolls, please see http://truereform.piausa.org.
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Woz
I prefer to believe the real Woz "stood up" in this case. I will be very disappointed if that is not true.
I will mention, though, that here is another example of "pegging" - only extreme positions allowed! The truth is always somewhere in between (which is why we have so many problems as a nation, IMO).
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