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How Steve Jobs Patent-Trolled Bill Gates

theodp writes "Apple, which is currently waging IP war on Android vendors, is no stranger to patent trolling. Citing the Steve Jobs bio, Forbes' Eric Jackson recalls how Steve Jobs used patents to get Bill Gates to make a 1997 investment in Apple. Recalled Jobs: 'Microsoft was walking over Apple's patents. I said [to Gates], "If we kept up our lawsuits, a few years from now we could win a billion-dollar patent suit. You know it, and I know it. But Apple's not going to survive that long if we're at war. I know that. So let's figure out how to settle this right away. All I need is a commitment that Microsoft will keep developing for the Mac and an investment by Microsoft in Apple so it has a stake in our success.' Next thing you know, BillG was lording over Jobs at Macworld Boston, as the pair announced the $150 million investment that breathed new life into then-struggling Apple. So, does Gates deserve any credit for helping create the world's most valuable company?"

4 of 307 comments (clear)

  1. The Worlds Most Valuable Company by koan · · Score: 1, Troll

    That makes nothing you need.

    --
    "If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
  2. Re:Apple practically invented patent trolling by Samantha+Wright · · Score: 0, Troll

    Here's your evidence; please jump off a cliff at the next opportunity. (FWIW, everything Apple was suing over in that suit, they stole from Xerox.)

    --
    Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
  3. Re:Disagree by wisnoskij · · Score: 0, Troll

    Not that it matters.
    All of the money comes from shady and downright unethical and illegal business practices.
    Even if he gave every single cent away that would only make him neutral in ethics.

    --
    Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
  4. Re:Disagree by roman_mir · · Score: 1, Troll

    jobs could have pulled 150 million out of his ass.

    - and then much later this gets retold as 'water to wine' episode, and it's a good thing that somebody is there to take the literal statement and 'smooth the edges' so to speak, because you wouldn't want your children to hear "and he pulleth some out of asseth and turneth it into 150millionth dollarth" in a Sunday school.