Re: Gates Patents Flipping a Light Switch

[AES/newspost]

In article <barmar-334A30.12432814052004@comcast.dca.giganews.com>,
 Barry Margolin <barmar@alum.mit.edu> wrote:

> 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?
> 

You overlook the *key* word in the news item:  "a *rare* setback".

It reveals to us what, in the current patent system, happened to a bunch 
of other Stacs.