You can taste the irony of Microsoft's patent positions on MP3 and Linux

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No good option

Eventually Microsoft will have to realize they have no good options and are inevitably going to be the loser in every IP case they get entangled in.

If some small software distributor knocks off a Microsoft idea and gets caught Microsoft is stuck either trying to 'get blood from a turnip' or picking over the bones of a company whose wealth has been transferred to their defense lawyers. Either way there is little chance of there being enough left to even cover Microsoft's legal costs.

OTOH If Microsoft is caught borrowing another's IP they have billion dollar deep pockets and no way to escape transferring a portion of their billions to the victor of the case. Each loss by Microsoft encourages the next round of suits as the circling lawyers realize that even a nibble from the wallet of Microsoft is likely to be tens of millions.

Every lawyer knows that it is inevitable, one day Microsoft, like the cigarette companies before them, will lose a significant class action lawsuit. If they can only be the lawyer that figures out the right angle of attack, gets the right judge and the right jury they can hit the lawsuit lottery. And like every other class action lawsuit each member of the "class" will get $5 or $10 and the lawyers will each pocket a cool million.

If Microsoft was smart they would go to Washington and lobby for an end to IP patents and software copyrights. With their larger brand name recognician and deep pockets they will remain the 2000 pound gorilla of the software world for decades. The only thing that threatens their position ot the top of the software world is a giant lawsuit which transfers tens of billions of dollars from their bank accounts to that of a competitor or an injuctin that forces them to pull a flagship product off the shelf and forces them to spend years scrambling to get a replacement to market while their market share is slowly erodes.

Such a result is unlikely though, Bill comes from a family of lawyers and has built his company as much on clever manipulation of the law as on clever software programming. Microsoft is use to having sharks swimming around the company and will probably not realize the sharks are circling until it is too late.

Bjorn A Freeman

Posted by: bjornafreeman@...   Posted on: 02/23/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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