Re: Gates Patents Flipping a Light Switch

[Barry Margolin]

In article <c82gs7$tsi$1@pcls4.std.com>,
 mha@TheWorld.com (Martha H Adams) wrote:

> Now imagine Microsoft with all its Washington connections not to
> mention a $50 billion warchest and a bevy of experienced committed
> lawyers sends you a nastygram.  
> 
> Now you tell me, however right your position might be, does a little
> detail like in-the-right make any difference at all who wins?
> Assuming anyone can sort it out from the expectable mountain of
> verbage? 

>From <http://www.base.com/software-patents/articles/stac.html>:

****************

 Associated Press, February 23, 1994. 

 Microsoft Loses Patent Suit

 LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Microsoft Corp. was found guilty of patent 
infringement and ordered to pay $120 million in damages to a tiny 
California firm in a rare setback for the giant computer software 
company.

 However, the federal jury on Wednesday also ruled that the violation 
was not willful and awarded Microsoft $13.6 million on a counterclaim 
against Stac Electronics, which makes a data-compression program called 
Stacker.

****************

Now tell me: if there wasn't a patent system, what do you think would 
have happened to Stac?

-- 
Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu
Arlington, MA
*** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me ***