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US Gov't Sides Against Microsoft In i4i Patent Case
Julie188 writes "In the ongoing patent infringement case between i4i and Microsoft, i4i has won a powerful ally: the US government itself. The US solicitor general, which represents the federal government in the Supreme Court, on Friday filed an amicus brief in support of i4i, saying that the US Patent and Trademark Office should not be second-guessed by a jury. i4i, which won a $290 million patent judgment against Microsoft, has now accrued 22 amicus briefs in its corner, representing more than 100 companies, organizations and individuals, including venture capitalists, individuals from the military and now, the government. Meanwhile, Microsoft has so far lined up 20 amicus briefs, representing about 60 companies and individuals, including Google, Apple, Cisco, Intel, Red Hat, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and 37 law and economics professors. At issue is how much evidence is required to invalidate a patent."
is Electronic Frontier Foundation. Actually, i think u.s. patent office should not be second guessing EFF, since their competence and understanding of these issues far surpass patent offices', leave aside any corporations'.
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There's no agency in government that should be accorded the singular privilege of not having to be second-guessed by a jury.
Excuse me, they have "Foundation" in their name. They are damn well respectable.
the lawyers.
I would prefer to negate the need for second-guessing the USPTO at all, as would, apparently, everybody who actually makes things for a living.
It's got to be getting harder and harder to claim that the patent system exists to "promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts", when regardless of why it was created it clearly now exists to line otherwise uninvolved parties' pockets off of the capital friction.
<xml><I><am><so><damn>Web 2.0</damn></so></am></I></xml>
EFF is a private organization. Right now you respect them. By morning they could be a wholly-owned subsidiary of a holding company owned by Microsoft. And I'm not saying which morning.
You were probably trying to be funny, but the EFF is not a private organization the way you are thinking. You cannot just buy out a 501(c)(3) and start controlling it. It's run by a board of directors and a set of bylaws that must be followed. Unless the directors end up disillusioned with the organization or its mission, there's really not much an outside party can do to influence it.
"Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
--- Jerry Garcia
"smart enough to get out of Jury Duty'"... Please, enough with the ancient comedy routine. There are many people, myself included, who don't try to weasel out of their civic duty. I guess it's better this way, though. I really don't want someone who cares so little about the legal system to decide my fate if I were ever arrested for something.
Tell you what: it won't be hard to figure it out if the EFF ever sells out. But until then, until we see one single shred of evidence that the EFF is anything but what we all know them to be, which is a highly-reputable organization dedicated to keeping technology and culture as free as possible (free in more than one sense) who has looked out for the best interests of every single one of us here on Slashdot (except maybe a few of those people who have just registered here as part of New Media Strategies' (and other companies of that type) ongoing attack on online communities) - until we get the merest hint that they're not doing a great job and are not exactly what they say they are, then we should assume that any comment here trying to spread FUD about the EFF is probably part of one of those corporate astroturfing outfits (like New Media Strategies and Reputation Defender and others like them).
I'm glad I read this. It's a reminder to send a little chunk of my income tax refund to the EFF for the great work that they continue to do.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Hey look! It's one a them New Media Strategies types. He's here to make it seem like EFF is the one doing something wrong.
Now I wonder, who would benefit from spreading FUD about the Electronic Freedom Foundation? Anybody care to start a little list?
I think it's time that we got real familiar with New Media Strategies and Reputation Defender and other online astroturfing units. Because if we don't figure out a way to thwart their dirty business, which is basically a much uglier and much more insidious version of spam, except with the intent to harm, the internet is going to become completely worthless as a place to get even the most basic information. I mean, we know not to believe everything we read at Wikipedia, but this is raising the stakes to a whole new level of bullshit. Everyone who runs a social media site has a responsibility to figure out how to keep these new mil-spec astroturfers out of the pool if they hope to exist into the future. And every one of us has a responsibility to out and thwart these new blastroturfers because there is value in the variety of online communities, including Slashdot. If you didn't think so, you wouldn't be reading this.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Does anyone bother to still claim that? It seems like the people who have been attacking the real intent of intellectual property, people like the patent trolls and just about every big corporation and the RIAA and MPAA and Sony and Disney, etc etc are dropping a lot of the pretense and are getting a lot more comfortable just letting the evil show through. Because they can.
It starting to seem like a lot of the really really bad actors in our world who have maybe kept a low profile over the past decades or at least spent a lot of money on public relations and image management are starting to just figure "what the hell" and are letting it all hang out. I'm seeing it in the political sector, the financial sector, the corporate sector. Look at the huge "Fuck You" that's implicit in AT&T's takeover of T-Mobile. They're saying to the Justice Department: "Don't even think about stopping us because we're bigger than you". Look at the Koch Brothers and their no-bid takeover of Wisconsin public utilities via the teabagger government. Look at the health insurance companies and their 50% increases in premiums, claiming it's because of health care reform even though the meaningful part of health care reform is still a year away. Look at Sony. Look at the banks and the mortgage servicing scandals. foreclosure scandals and newly announced $5 ATM fees. Look at the oil companies. It's like they feel like there's no longer any need to spend money and effort to appear like their benign because their power puts them out of our reach. Maybe they're right.
You are welcome on my lawn.
Ah, but if you look at the new breed of astroturfer, it's not about "opinion", it's about misinformation. The comment to which I was responding did not just say "I don't like the EFF" which is an opinion, it was that "the EFF spreads so much FUD" which is simply a lie. You can say a lot of things about the EFF, but "spreading FUD" is not one of them.
And you say "It is something we are seeing around here more and more these days". But besides "playing the man not the ball" how would you suggest addressing it? We are seeing entire stories and comments threads made unreadable by a first section of over 100 comments alternating anonymous cowards cutting and pasting and newly-minted UIDs dropping in to keep the thread expanded. And there is a marked similarity to the stories that attact these trollbombs. If you go to other sites where technology is discussed, you will see the same attacks in the same manner often on the same stories. I used to believe as you do, that claiming "astroturf" was just a way to marginalize disagreement. But as the companies that are engaged in this organized astroturfing grow, they are hiring people who are less skilled (who are probably making minimum wage) and they're starting to get a little obvious about it.
I understand what you're saying, but I'm getting a little worried that by the time we come up with a response, it's going to be way too late.
You are welcome on my lawn.
these new mil-spec astroturfers
You may be more right than you intended.
...For a defense contractor with ties to the federal government, Hunton & Williams, DOD, NSA, and the CIA - whose enemies are labor unions, progressive organizations, journalists, and progressive bloggers, a persona apparently goes far beyond creating a mere sockpuppet. According to an embedded MS Word document found in one of the HBGary emails, it involves creating an army of sockpuppets, with sophisticated "persona management" software that allows a small team of only a few people to appear to be many, while keeping the personas from accidentally cross-contaminating each other.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/16/945768/-UPDATED:-The-HB-Gary-Email-That-Should-Concern-Us-All