Pied Piper was threatened with a lawsuit by a patent/IP troll. When Richard went to talk to him during his “everything can be solved by just talking it out” phase he learned the guy was also the owner of music copyright for an old song that he used to threaten musicians.
His solution was to find an older example of that song (using their software) and threaten the guy with losing his copyright on the song that was his main moneymaker.
So in this one case talking it out face to face did pay off. Unlike talking to Ed Chen
Yes, that show is notably fiction, though so firmly rooted in the reality of Silicon Valley that it was at times almost painful to watch while working and living there. Also everyone started calling me Gilfoyle.
Note that in the US, the title of the patent can say pretty much anything it wants and be the most obvious or broad thing. What actually matters is the list of claims. That’s what one needs to read and that’s what the actual patent outlines.
This particular patent has 13 claims which narrow down and define what the supposed inventions is.
Such poetic justice, though, ain’t it? I guess they must’ve thought Valve was easy, low hanging fruit? But of a mistake, if so. Just a little one, mind you!
What a bullshit patent. Twitch and other streaming services have been doing this for longer than this patent have existed most likely.
Patent trolls are absolute scum of the earth.
I’m reminded of that one Silicon Valley episode
Remind me?
Pied Piper was threatened with a lawsuit by a patent/IP troll. When Richard went to talk to him during his “everything can be solved by just talking it out” phase he learned the guy was also the owner of music copyright for an old song that he used to threaten musicians.
His solution was to find an older example of that song (using their software) and threaten the guy with losing his copyright on the song that was his main moneymaker.
So in this one case talking it out face to face did pay off. Unlike talking to Ed Chen
Thanks, I remember now!
Yes, that show is notably fiction, though so firmly rooted in the reality of Silicon Valley that it was at times almost painful to watch while working and living there. Also everyone started calling me Gilfoyle.
Yeah, the fact such a nonspecific patent was granted in the first place shows pretty clearly there’s something wrong with the system!
Note that in the US, the title of the patent can say pretty much anything it wants and be the most obvious or broad thing. What actually matters is the list of claims. That’s what one needs to read and that’s what the actual patent outlines.
This particular patent has 13 claims which narrow down and define what the supposed inventions is.
At that point you could just patent breathing.
“Method and apparatus for insufflation of oxygen into a body by means of flexible permeable membrane”
Such poetic justice, though, ain’t it? I guess they must’ve thought Valve was easy, low hanging fruit? But of a mistake, if so. Just a little one, mind you!
I could see an argument that RealPlayer did that 30 years ago.