At the AlwaysOn conference I sit down with IBM’s top intellectual property lawyer. We talk about how he’d remake the patent system. The open source licenses he/IBM likes (GPL 2). Patent trolls.
Out of control bloggers who disclose things before they are patented. (Um, personal experience there).
And a lot more.
It’s not every day you get to sit down with one of the top software industry lawyers and have a conversation. Hope you enjoy.
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Robert Scoble works at Fast Company.TV (title: Managing Director). Everything here, though, is his personal opinion and is not read or approved before it is posted. No warranties or other guarantees will be offered as to the quality of the opinions or anything else offered here.
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August 13th, 2007 at 3:16 am
Robert,
I like the brief opening video with your pictures and your laugh which takes your spirit as I imagined when I read your posts.
The lawyer is a need in an environment like today; this is a pity though. In the moment when we begin to do modestly well, the number of people who file a law suit is sub-real.
I like the advise of these lawyer to most of the developers to seek advise to a lawyer early and often.
Mario Ruiz
http://www.oursheet.com
August 13th, 2007 at 4:50 am
Isn’t it “not our father’s Oldsmobile?” Was that trademarked? Heads will roll!
August 13th, 2007 at 7:56 am
It doesn’t matter if you disclose things before they are patented. We have 2 patents being published later this year, which were applied for late last year. The patent system is first come first serve. As long as you got the application in .1 milliseconds before the other guy, especially if you used the electronic submission system, you should be fine.
http://www.beercosoftware.com/ip/uspto.jpg
Here’s an example, albeit a bit blurred. I always wanted to work at the CSIS, I think this proves I’m qualified.
August 13th, 2007 at 7:58 am
BTW, no sound on this machine, I can’t watch the video :(
I wish you would put up transcripts for those of us at work.
August 13th, 2007 at 8:33 am
“Patent trolls.”
AFAIK, Patent trolling under the current system is common place. People who invent what tech they think will most likely come about anyway as a logical progression of technology then stick it to huge companies, such as IBM when they predictably use it. I would never… but some unscrupulous inventors have and will continue to.
http://www.bluej.org/mrt/?p=21
The link above is the worst form of patent trolling and AFAIK, only Microsoft dares to stupe down to the level of patenting other people’s inventions. Let’s hope that’s the last time they try that. Only public awareness can stop Microsoft from sinking to new and depraved lows in IT ethics.
August 13th, 2007 at 10:20 am
Nice interview. Learned a lot.
Chris, you’re just a sad, sad person in any forum you talk in. An interview with IBM and you bring up Microsoft. You’re just a pathetic little man. :/
August 13th, 2007 at 10:29 am
@Harlequin,
The C9 lawsuit court date is on the 27th of August. I submitted enough evidence to send the MS legal team packing(hopefully) within the 15 day pre-trial limit. We shall see. I’ll be up early that morning for sure.
Scoble talked about Patent trolling, at least in his post and the most heinous examples of that were provided by non other than Bill Gates’s Micro-soft. Why not bring that up?
Don’t you get tired sucking up to Microsoft?
Just a little? (makes small gesture with thumb and forefinger)
August 13th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Been there, dealt with the patent trolls, threw away the T-shirt.
This is just another manifestation of the US fascination with contingency fees and other asymmetrical traps in our legal system.
If the loser had to pay both sets of fees (e.g. Tort Reform) and we tracked down the other asymmetries (e.g. costs a lot more to defend against a patent holder than to claim infringement ala Trolls) the US legal system would operate in a way much more closely resembling justice. Instead, there are asymmetries that give one side, the side acting as Trolls in ways a lot broader than just patents, all the advantages. It’s cheaper to pay them off.
Unfortunately, the lawyers like things just the way they are and they play to the fears of the less well off to keep it that way. I am curious where all the stories are from Europe about how poorly the little people are treated by legal systems where the loser pays all the legals. Seems to me that if our lawyers are right there should be massive unhappiness on a daily basis as ordinary folks are ground under the boots of Big Legal.
Cheers!
August 13th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
Channel 9 lawsuit?
August 13th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
Scoble, I think your Beer went bad again. Time to toss it out.
August 13th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
[...] suing C9? http://scobleizer.com/2007/08/13/a-conversation-with-ibms-top-intellectual-property-lawyer/Comment #7 it sounds like he is. Can C9 guys [...]
August 13th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=673017559&context=photostream&size=o
There, now you know. Not that I haven’t posted this here before. I also sent a bunch of evidence in a few days before I left for Germany last week, and a retort at the MS legal response. I shouldn’t have written that it will send them packing. I should have said that what I sent in will give the court a much clearer picture of what really happened. I apologize, and I got a little carried away there. May justice be served.
August 13th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
Wow, just wow…. that’s all I have to say
August 14th, 2007 at 9:01 am
Justice is all the everyone needs.
August 15th, 2007 at 10:56 am
[...] bonus: Robert Scoble (Podtech) video interview with David Kappos, IBM vice president and assistant general counsel about patents. When asked what he would do to the [...]
August 15th, 2007 at 11:42 am
The answer to your last question reinforces my opinion that in key positions Microsoft hires people who ACT smart, while IBM hires people who ARE smart.
This guy described the IP system with complete clarity and honesty and drives at the issues it faces without even a hint of how this might adversely affect IBM. While IBM doesn’t always execute well, and has its fair share of mediocre middle managers, they continue to have a corporate philosophy that looks beyond the next contact closing. that shows in both their R&D efforts and in their approach to OSS, as witnessed here.
IBM is a mature company, while I wonder if Microsoft is capable of maturing. This issue of globalisation coupled with IP may be the deciding factor.
August 15th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
@macbeach,
IBM looks to *use* the patent system and other resources that are at it’s disposal. Microsoft tries to *abuse* them.
http://www.fsf.org/free-software-award-2006
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Ts‘o
IBM has done a lot for the Apache project, the kernel and many other FOSS projects.
This is Microsoft’s contribution
http://port25.technet.com/
A pathetic proprietary website which nobody visits and where nobody comments on posts. That and a failed coupon deal with Novell and a crappy pseudo OSDL lab. Oh and Get the facts and other paid for research.
http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/11069
Microsoft is like the dirty underhanded Boris in Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons. Always looking to cheat the rest of the industry and misuse resources.
August 17th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
Great discussion. Give us a same kind of discussion on copyright issues..like…what happens when someone copies someone’s web application in other language and make some changes..can the company which copied the application be sued or not?
August 19th, 2007 at 4:56 am
I like the last comment from Good job - worth a follow-up?
August 24th, 2007 at 11:07 am
Thanks for the video. I think we are in need of copywrite reform, myself.
August 27th, 2007 at 10:46 am
Thank you for your post and video. It was very interesting to be able to hear some of what goes on behind the scenes!!!!
August 29th, 2007 at 10:24 pm
[...] A conversation with IBM’s top intellectual property lawyer (2) Larry Page’s teacher (3) The rest of the story behind Microsoft’s OS deal with IBM (4) Why [...]
September 5th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
[...] to that the fact that I’ve learned more by having a conversation with an IBM lawyer for 30 minutes than I’ve learned from the average blog lately. Heck, I look at TechMeme and [...]