THE notorious patent fight carries on in an attempt to make Android more expensive than free (gratis).
Judge Alsup asked for an assessment of his proposed alternative approach to the determination of patent damages, and he has gotten an earful.
On December 27 Judge Alsup set forth a questionable alternative approach to the determination of patent damages in the case, particularly in light of the prior Sun/Google negotiations in 2006. (See 657 [PDF; Text]) We immediately questioned the approach the judge was suggesting and suggested that it would not be received well by Google.
M$’s scheme to mess with competition in 2012? If sellers persuade consumers in their best judgment that Android/Linux smartphones are the best choice, M$ will bribe them $10-$15 a copy to persuade consumers that smartphones running “phoney 7" are the best choice. M$ plans to spend hundreds of millions for these bribes in 2012. I don’t know what legal fiction this scheme will cloak itself in but if you run a retail business would you want a third party bribing your employees? I suspect M$ will have to sign up retail businesses to subscribe to this mode of compensating salespeople. M$ agreed not to do exclusive dealing but now the creative department at M$ is trying “persuasive dealing” instead, anything to mess with competition.
Comments
Michael
2012-01-09 15:50:09
saulgoode
2012-01-09 22:49:20