03 October 2011

Microsoft-Samsung Licensing Deal Tells Us Nothing About The Facts, Just About The FUD

As Bessen and Meurer's book "Patent Failure" points out, one of the biggest problems with software patents is their lack of well-defined boundaries. This makes it very hard to tell whether newly-written code is infringing on existing patents or not. The threat of treble damages for wilful infringement removes any incentive to try to find out. 
On Techdirt.

2 comments:

guy said...

Could this be a bit of game theory on Samsung's part? Samsung are obviously not the only Android vendor around (that's the nature of Android), so by making a deal, particularly an obscure one, with MS they move clear of an obstacle that MS will then place in the way of one of their Android-selling competitors --- a potentially bigger and more expensive obstacle since the pressure increases every time anyone else settles.

(not posted on techdirt 'cos... well, it looks like a bit of a bun fight over there :-)

Glyn Moody said...

@guy: - yes that's quite possible; Samsung clearly has no loyalty to anything but itself - understandable, if not laudable.

And yes, Techdirt is *always* a bit of a bun fight in the comments...