Re: Gates Patents Flipping a Light Switch

[Barry Margolin]

In article <c83dqk$h2i$1@blue.rahul.net>,
 c.c.eiftj@GatesXPate.usenet.us.com (Rahul Dhesi) wrote:

> Barry Margolin <barmar@alum.mit.edu> writes:
> 
> >No, I didn't overlook it.  My point is that without patents, even these 
> >rare wins would be virtually impossible.  Patents are one of the few 
> >weapons a small player can wield against a behemoth like Microsoft.
> 
> Microsoft now owns the Stac patents.  Is that good for the rest of us?

They're pretty worthless now -- other technologies have made that stuff 
obsolete.  So Stac probably made money when they sold them to Microsoft.  
Any time the 800 lb gorilla has to pay out to the little guys, it's a 
good thing.

-- 
Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu
Arlington, MA
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