jason galanis
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1 year ago
in Google and Patents Again on The Technology Liberation Front
tim, you actually made me pause a think for a moment. on the opne hand, your comments about google being unreliant on patents is a good one and well founded. i think they are true innovators in their own right.
that said, intellectual property rights have fundamentally played a role in every advance google has made. for instance, but for patents on page rank (fka backrub), one can not imagine the same level of financial support early on for google; a start up not so many years ago.
in subsequent chapters, patents played a role in google's life; perhaps the most major one. GOOG made a decision to infringe on Patent 6,269,361. this was filed and obtained by goto.com, which became overture.com; then purchased by yahoo for $1.63 billion. GOOG was sued by YHOO for patent infringement for allegedly infringing on a new system of paid placement for online ads. this was NOT google's creation. this was someone else's intellectual property. google may dominate the space today. it did NOT invent this technology. instead google chose to settle for 2.7 MILLION GOOG shares and an undisclosed royalty.
so, to say intellectual property or patents relfecting and protecting it hasnt been a factor is an incomplete thought.
lastly, you should know that google is one of the most prolific patent filing firms. the company filed dozens upon dozens of patents. apparently, though, they have 'discovered' this need late in life, as many of their patents are after 2003. so, while you may think patents are unimportant and inconsequential to google, the management and board of a $150 billion corporation have a different view; just see their filings.
jason galanis, geotag, when "where" matters
that said, intellectual property rights have fundamentally played a role in every advance google has made. for instance, but for patents on page rank (fka backrub), one can not imagine the same level of financial support early on for google; a start up not so many years ago.
in subsequent chapters, patents played a role in google's life; perhaps the most major one. GOOG made a decision to infringe on Patent 6,269,361. this was filed and obtained by goto.com, which became overture.com; then purchased by yahoo for $1.63 billion. GOOG was sued by YHOO for patent infringement for allegedly infringing on a new system of paid placement for online ads. this was NOT google's creation. this was someone else's intellectual property. google may dominate the space today. it did NOT invent this technology. instead google chose to settle for 2.7 MILLION GOOG shares and an undisclosed royalty.
so, to say intellectual property or patents relfecting and protecting it hasnt been a factor is an incomplete thought.
lastly, you should know that google is one of the most prolific patent filing firms. the company filed dozens upon dozens of patents. apparently, though, they have 'discovered' this need late in life, as many of their patents are after 2003. so, while you may think patents are unimportant and inconsequential to google, the management and board of a $150 billion corporation have a different view; just see their filings.
jason galanis, geotag, when "where" matters