Spotify Sued For Patent Infringement 151
An anonymous reader writes "Celebrated online music player Spotify just entered the US market a few weeks ago, and already it's being sued for patent infringement. Welcome to America! The patent in question is a very very broad patent on distribution of music in a digital form, which basically describes how anyone would ever distribute digital music. The company suing, PacketVideo, has no competing product. It just wants money from the company that actually innovated."
Spotify (Score:4, Insightful)
On the bright side (Score:5, Insightful)
The more these patent trolls do their thing, the closer we get to legislation that puts an end (or at least seriously hampers) such behavior. Unfortunately, such legislation tends to have unintended consequences but seriously, this is getting out of control and something needs to be done. I can see this as another case where the "loser pays" idea may have an impact.
Re:On the bright side (Score:2, Insightful)
I heard that the Congress will take care of that legislation you're talking about right after they agree on raising the debt limit...
It's a self-perpetuating problem (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh yeah, and anything creative the individual come up with is now property of the corporation, adding to the cycle.
Fuck all patents and patent holders (Score:4, Insightful)
Seriously, I'm sick and tired of this.
I'm absolutely convinced that we suffer way greater from all the damage those patent trolls cause and the general barrier that the pure existence of patents pose than the potential issues of a total removal of patents would cause. I have yet to see any conclusive argumentation why we actually need (in the meaning of: the society as a whole) patents. There might be slight issues with innovation in certain areas during the transition but I'm sure that this wouldn't outweigh the benefits of not having to employ hordes of lawyers or being afraid to get sued to hell and back all the time.
Re:Spotify (Score:4, Insightful)
(This is all IMO obviously)
Active Discouragement (Score:4, Insightful)
On top of that, you're considering not paying the interest on the money you borrowed from the rest of the world. This would of course end people betting on your country as a safe investment. Money flowing into your economy from the rest of the world appears to be something to avoid as well. Reducing the number of people in your country that can actually pay their mortgage or stay employed at all seems to be no cause for concern either.
The only thing I can really see you doing that would cause your status as an ally and first rate investment opportunity to go into decline any faster, would perhaps be to start senseless wars that ran on for decades mainly to keep the price of oil up.
Oh wait...