Editorials

The system of Copyright, Patents and Trademarks has a long history in the US and around the world. Originally the system was developed to protect the individual inventor or artists. It allows them to benefit from their work or inventions for a limited period of time as a form of compensation for bringing a new technology or art to the world. This system worked very well when it was individuals who were seeking the protection. Patent laws at the time also required that the inventor be able to demonstrate their inventions before the patents were granted.

There are times in the market when we see one player stand out and start to impact the performance of all the players in the group. We saw this when Rambus started suing everyone over patents they filed for while part of the JDEC standards setting group. It was a serious time in the industry and everyone learned to hate the name RAMBUS simply because of their over aggressive patents and their legal attacks around the world. Now Rambus is a shell of its former self and most of those patents are expired. The rest of the world has moved on and created new standards that RAMBUS does not have any license to.

The day following the Verdict from the 9 member jury we poured through the amended worksheet and noticed some very unusual things about it. We stated that it appeared that the jury had predetermined guilt and then spent the majority of their time figuring out how much they should make Samsung pay Apple. This was before any of the jurors had started to cash in on their “fame” and began the rounds with the tech press and TV. Now that at least one member of the jury and the jury foreman have come out and made public statements their intentions in producing the verdict are clear making Samsung’s bid to get it overturned a little easier… if Judge Koh at least attempts to play this one fairly.

Back when I was working as a photographer, a friend of mine had a funny name for weddings: The Big Lie. He said that there was nothing worse than two people standing up in front of “God and everyone” and lying to one other’s faces like that. Of course, Wedding shoots were one of his most profitable sessions, so he did not let this interfere with making money. It is this money that motivates many companies to lie to the consumer. It was certainly a motivator when Apple told its Big Lie to the world about their innovations for the iPhone, iPad, and many other products.