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AOL Patent Deal Means Microsoft Now Holds Vestiges of Netscape
inode_buddha writes "It's part of the $1 billion AOL patent deal, and it's something that would have made many minds explode back in the 1990s. It still makes my mind explode today. Marc Andreesen points out that MS now has a significant chunk of the old Netscape. What are the ramifications for Mozilla?"
>> Marc Andreesen points out that MS now has a significant chunk of the old Netscape. What are the ramifications for Mozilla?
Not sure how much those patents would be worth to anyone, given that Netscape was unable to use them to defend against IE in the 1990s.
Except this is about patents - not copyrights.
Very often, people confuse simple with simplistic. The nuance is lost on most. - Clement Mok
if you can't beat them, buy them
Beat them and buy them.
Dark Reflection
Translation: I am a happy Apple customer. I do not want and never would want anything non-approved from outside my walled garden. By definition, anything non-approved is bad, and not only do I not want it, nobody else should want it or have any means of getting it.
Well done, you are a *good* consumer and will get a gold star (cost $0.99, has been billed to your account).
AOL *created* the Mozilla Foundation, so why would they sue them? It's a safe bet that Mozilla has a license to any relevant patent.
This billion dollar expenditure to buy something as silly as software patents is the #1 reason why they won't go away. Big business has too much invested in software patents to let some pesky government go about changing the rules. Meanwhile, small business suffers for it.
I went to eat some animal crackers and the box said, "Do not eat if seal is broken." I opened the box and sure enough..