Yahoo's Own Lash Out At Company Over "Weaponized" Patents 89
Velcroman1 writes "Yahoo is suing Facebook for patent infringement — and the people responsible for Yahoo's patents are outraged. Andy Baio sold Upcoming.org to Yahoo in 2005 for an undisclosed sum, and agreed at the time to help the company file for patents based on the site he had invented and the code he had written. Baio was hesitant to do so, but told Wired.com that he thought he was helping as a precautionary measure. 'I thought I was giving them a shield,' Baio said. 'It turns out I gave them a missile with my name permanently engraved on it.' He helped Yahoo file for eight patents, four of which were later granted. And while none were cited in the Yahoo complaint, Baio said a handful were now 'weaponized to use against people like me.'" bdking points out that Mark Cuban is sick of the patent fiasco as well but his approach is slightly different. "He's rooting for Yahoo to 'destroy' Facebook in its patent lawsuit. Why? Because if Yahoo collects, say, $50 billion from Facebook and forces the social networking company out of business, consumers will revolt and demand patent reform."
Mark Cuban: still clueless (Score:5, Insightful)
Destroying Facebook will not result in a "consumer revolt". The users will hop on the next big thing. They might go on G+, where they will incessantly upvote each others "Fuck Yahoo I miss Facebook" posts, without actually doing anything about it.
Social media is dangerous in that respect, because it encourages people to talk about doing right, in order to get recognition from their "friends", without actually following through. Everyone suddenly thinks they're an activist because they shared some viral pic.
Is this a trend? (Score:5, Insightful)
High profile employees bashing their own employers over company ethics and purpose - Google, Goldman Sachs, Yahoo, all just today.
Sheeple don't revolt (Score:5, Insightful)
People don't even revolt when stimulus helps unions and banks and congressional pork rather than real people.
People don't even revolt when gasoline and food prices go up, double, largely because of currency destruction which is a Presidential choice due to budget choices.
People don't even revolt when police set up random checkpoints on highways, airports, train stations, and their own front yard.
People are not going to revolt if Facebook stock gets crushed due to an outsized Patent award. It will simply mean Yahoo owns 50% of Facebook. The site will continue to function uninterrupted. It worked just fine with $40m so it will; work better with $5000m.
JJ
Well... (Score:5, Insightful)
Because if Yahoo collects, say, $50 billion from Facebook and forces the social networking company out of business, consumers will revolt and demand patent reform.
As awesome as this fantasy scenario that takes out 2 birds with one stone sounds, lets be honest, it's just that. A fantasy.
Facebook isn't going to crumble any time soon, unfortunately.
Re:But you still cashed the check, right? (Score:5, Insightful)
(shrug). People make mistakes in life, and then later regret their actions. I'm not going to get all incensed at Andy Baio.
Re:Well... (Score:5, Insightful)
If Facebook feels that threatened, it can just buy Yahoo. What's the value now, $1.25, or is that including a cheeseburger?
Re:Sheeple don't revolt (Score:3, Insightful)
This word is used exclusively by those it describes most accurately.
Re:Well... (Score:4, Insightful)
Maybe this is the real goal of Yahoo. To force someone to buy them and maximize their cheeseburger multiplier.
Re:Does anyone think Facebook deserves this? (Score:5, Insightful)
Look, Zuckerburg didn't invent social networking and neither did twins, and neither did Yahoo. The twins' case was bullshit, and so is Yahoo's.
Yahoo's lawsuits designed to pump up Yahoo's share price so someone with sufficiently deep pockets and small brain will buy them up. I suspect Yahoo is hoping Facebook will, just as SCO hoped that IBM would put them out of their misery and make the executives rich. Yahoo was completely fucked over by Jerry Yang, who refused Microsoft's outrageously large offer, and now it's down to this. This isn't the end of Facebook, this is the end of Yahoo. Either Zuckerburg will call their bluff and that will be it and whatever value is left in the company will be sold piecemeal to the highest bidders. But the company, well, it's worth shit. For chrissakes they're renting Bing as their search engine. They're utterly pointless.
Re:Mark Cuban: still clueless (Score:4, Insightful)
Mark Cuban is a moron, and always has been. His major claim to fame is that he found an even bigger moron at Yahoo to pay $6B for Broadcast.com. If Yahoo hadn't given him all of that for no results they might not have had to start patent trolling to survive...
Re:Sheeple don't revolt (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't know if I would make the same argument as your parent, but I know I stop reading when posters start talking about sheeple. Invariably, the post contains two things:
* an unsupported statement that large swathes of the population are being actively mislead by a minority cabal whose goal is to destroy said swathes of the population
* indignation that no else one sees the dangers in following said cabal, and that everything would be better if the swathes of population would follow the opinion of the poster.
Finally, those posts also reek of internet tough guys: tough talk about how bad something is, about how bad something will get if nothing is done, and about how people should follow them in revolt. But there is never any action that is demonstrated.
In other words, when I see the word sheeple, I see someone who talks a big game, but does nothing. And I just move on.