“Eric Schmidt, Google executive chairman, has criticised Apple, Microsoft and Research in Motion for spending richly on patents rather than innovating,” David Gelles reports for The Financial Times. “His criticisms come a week after those companies beat Google in the bidding for a collection of strategically vital patents from Nortel that cover wireless, 4G, data networking, internet and semiconductor technologies.”
MacDailyNews Take: Innovating. Is that anything like completely reshaping entire industries based on transformative patented IP only to see a bespectacled mole attempt to steal it in order for his own company to profit? Why was Google interested in Nortel’s patents if not to bolster their own weak portfolio in the face of umpteen lawsuits alleging theft of patented IP in Android?
Gelles reports, “‘I’m worried and or disappointed that we’ve gotten to this point in the industry,’” Mr Schmidt said.”
MacDailyNews Take: You’d better be worried, π boy.
Gelles reports, “Mr Schmidt signalled that Google would not be shy about acquiring other patent portfolios at reasonable prices, while building out its own holdings. ‘Now that the value of patents appears to have increased a great deal based on these data points, there are lots of people that have patents that are available,’ Mr Schmidt said. ‘We have a lot of patents. If the answer is tonnage, I think we’ll be fine.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Eric T. Mole is “disappointed,” but not enough to preclude his company from attempting to accomplish the same so-called “disappointing” actions in the future. Hypocrite.
Google doesn’t have a lot of patents that matter for Android. That is their exact problem.
The answer isn’t “tonnage,” mole. The answer is: Do you own work. Don’t steal others’ IP and then try to fix it later by buying up other company’s patents for protection.
Read more in the full article here.
Related articles:
RUMOR: Apple gets outright ownership of Nortel’s LTE (4G) patents – July 5, 2011
Google’s Android intellectual property headache looks set to become a migraine – July 5, 2011
Leaked bids show how Apple-led ‘Rockstar’ beat Google to Nortel patents – July 2, 2011
Apple consortium wins $4.5 billion Nortel patent trove auction; Google, Intel lose bidding battle – July 1, 2011
Intel gets antitrust approval to bid on Nortel patents – June 24, 2011
Apple gets U.S. antitrust approval to bid for Nortel patent trove – June 23, 2011
Apple, Intel among bidders for Nortel patent trove – June 17, 2011
Nortel delays patent auction one week citing significant interest – June 16, 2011
RIM looks to outbid Apple, Google, and Nokia for Nortel’s patent treasure trove – April 18, 2011
Google bids $900 million for 6,000 Nortel telecom patents in quest to boost patent portfolio – April 4, 2011
Apple reportedly bidding for Nortel patent portfolio – December 13, 2010
“rather than innovating”???
Mole’s been out in that burning sun with his pink shirt for way too long.
Oh, the big bad evil Apple bid more billions than we did. At Google we do no evil, so if somebody else wins, they must be evil.
I think Apple should file Schmidt’s complaint under, “Boo-Yah! Who’s your DADDY?” Or, possibly, “Predictable outcomes can be fun.”
Hang on, he’s bitching that Apple et al spent loads of money buying Nortel’s patents while Google were trying to do the same thing? Anyone spot the logical fallacy?
=:~)
Seems like AAPL and GOOG will both buy someone else’s ideas when possible. It’s what got AAPL kick started decades ago (Xerox Parc) and the same goes for MSFT. Gates bought the original OS. Dumbass Schmidt is just pissed because AAPL spent more than GOOG did! How can you bitch when you are trying to buy ideas too? Besides it’s business and there are no rules or nice guys. AAPL is not nice, they just put more money on the table. Eric sounds like the fanboys here. There are no fanboys in business just grownups.
You’re clueless!
folklore.org
From the guys and gals that actually built the thing.
Ass kissing fanboy. Here, have some more Kool-Aid. grow up.
What a piece of shit. Correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t google place the first bid on the patents? Tough shit Schmidt that your competitors outbid you because they are sick of you stealing ther stuff. I can’t wait to see google arrogance crushed once they lose whatever money they made from android on lawsuit settlements.
Google is learning the hard way just as Sun Microsystems did years ago about Patents.
I agree with the guy when he says “I’m worried and or disappointed that we’ve gotten to this point in the industry” – I’ve long been worried about it and it really started picking up steam in the 1990s.
I don’t fault Apple and the consortium for throwing down the cash to buy the patents, these guys know the value of this stuff and MS has actively taken to patent extortion as a part of their income.
Personally I feel Patents are far too broad when it comes to software. Really the system is flat out broken. You cannot write a single piece of software without infringing on someone’s ‘intellectual property’ in this day and age. Its a joke.
How is it different that when Apple stands up to protect its IP and charge other companies for the use, and when Microsoft does it?
I loathe MS as much as anyone, but you have to agree that they spend a boatload on their R&D, and are entitled to a return on their legitimate investments.
Just saying.
I have not looked at how Apple handles licensing in regards to their patents so I can’t say what the difference is between the two.
MS does spend a lot on R&D and they also have patents on technology that has been around for years and is pretty ‘obvious’. They like to leverage those patents and either scare competitors , or as a last resort they like to have them sign ‘licensing deals’. I’ve long made my living off Microsoft but really does anyone believe for a moment they ‘invented’ hundreds of basic functions used within operating systems such as Unix and Linux?
As someone who created a couple software patents, the popular perception of them is quite different from reality.
I write code all the time that doesn’t infringe on someone’s patent.
I’d be happy to see some sort of patent reform, but that would require a constitutional amendment in the USA, plus whatever it takes to change the rest of the world.
On the balance, we have a much more open world where people share their secrets because of the patent process.
Without the patents to copy, Google wouldn’t have been able to create Android as fast as they did.
The “anti-patent” people I’ve met, think that they should be able to take other people’s innovations without paying for them. Their complaint is that patents give the innovators the right to profit from their innovations.
I havent’ seen one yet who wants to get rid of patents but is also willing to get rid of the disclosure that comes with them.
Eric didn’t say that because he thinks it’s ridiculous and damaging to patent the basic idea of things like scrollbars or popup buttons.
He said that because he wants to be able to get away with wholesale plagairism. His ideal vision of Android is iOS with Google badges.
Apple takes issue with this, incidentally.
He’s a nipple (as one of the Gallagher brothers would say..).
Hypocrisy knows no bounds!
It’s okay if Google buys the patents so they don’t have to innovate, but heaven forbid if anyone else does.
‘I’m worried and or disappointed that we’ve gotten to this point in the industry,’” Mr Schmidt said.”
You reap what you sow.
If the answer is tonnage, I think we’ll be fine.’
Haha, he’s been talking to SillyBalls at RIM again.
He’s just mad that his bid of pi didn’t win because it was sloop clever,
Should have bid Avogadro’s Constant.
The Avogadro constant expresses the number of elementary entities per Eric T. Mole of substance and it has the value 6.02214179(30)×1023 mol-1
qka
Good one for Eric since that equals a mole!
What a hypocritical tool!!
How does such a douche get so far. Shut up you freaking weasel mole nobody gives a shat about your opinion
I’d like to shove Eric Schmidt up Rupert Murdoch’s puckered asshole. He’d probably like it too.
Oh, what a lovely vision… 😎
But back to living IRL—
+1 Too funny!
Hahaha Yeah I’d like to see that!
“Eric Schmidt, Google executive chairman, has criticised Apple, Microsoft and Research in Motion for spending richly on patents rather than innovating….”
You have to be freaking kidding me. I can’t believe that Schmidt actually had the guts to put forth such blatant BS. If it wasn’t for his “spying” from the BOD position, Google would have actually had to innovate. Instead they were able to copy the work Apple had already done.
Google should just be praying that Apple doesn’t try to “innovate” in the search engine space. Maybe, Jobs could be invited to be on the BOD?
Go back to your hole mole.
eh just shut your π-hole, moleman.
Goorgle has the patent on Thiefery, Shamelessnes and Hypocracy… that’s a pretty good portfolio.
and Evility
“spending richly on patents rather than innovating,”
No, Eric, they spent it to keep YOU from buying patents instead of innovating. Other than search, Google’s only product development is stealing from others, including Oracle, microsoft, and especially Apple.
What is up with this “tonnage” thing? Wasn’t it one of RIM’s co-ceos that talked about how they’d have the needed “tonnage” of apps? Like it was just about some sort of bulk? And now Schmidt with “tonnage” of patents. Give me a break.
if he’s so concerned why did the Googilites FOOL AROUND during the bidding by putting bids based on “Pi” number (3.14159265358979323846.. ) etc. instead of earnestly calculating how much those patents were worth or seriously cobbling up allies like Apple did?
(the problem with Google is that it’s run by a bunch of stuck up engineers that think that things like running the company profitably, customer service, updates to software (look at android phone update issues), control of malware etc AND bidding seriously is BORING and not really worth their best efforts… )
When did this pink-shirted effeminate turd innovate anything? Their whole business is about watching for what is popular and then copying it, as others have said.
Maybe their real “innovation” is mining their customers for every single bit of sell-able data in order to give them “free” products. Why do people give them a free pass on this? Are these people really that cheap?
“Why do people give them a free pass on this? Are these people really that cheap?”
Yes…. plus stupid.
“‘I’m worried and or disappointed that we’ve gotten to this point in the industry,’” Mr Schmidt said.”
“Peace, love, granola, and let me steal your shit, man!”
You nailed the mole!
With this one statement, Eric Schmidt has obliterated whatever tiny shred of credibility he ever had. What a stinking liar!
While I agree that, certainly, innovation should be the driving force of technology, it is disingenuous to act as though innovation isn’t built on existing technologies. It is rare, if not impossible, to have a technology appear that is completely unheard of and without history. Buying these patents makes perfect sense – economically, technologically, legally, etc. Schmidt should know this as well as anybody. Furthermore, to suggest that somehow Apple has not been innovative, which is what Schmidt was implying – and this coming from a guy who used to be a member of that company’s board – is complete BS. Combined with his self-denial of Google’s own involvement in the bidding war for the patents, Schmidt’s hypocrisy is so blatant that it is stunning.
What an assbag.
Maybe if Mole had taken the auction seriously and bid real money rather that the value of PI and other childish tricks, his comments might be worth listening to, but the whining of an adolescent cry baby can be ignored.
Huge *DING* Factor. Humor in life is great. But how does π Boy get away with ranting regrets when clearly he didn’t take Google bidding seriously?! Wha-wha-wha. 😥
Isn’t little Eric so C-U-T-E!
His own duplicity has created much of the need for the industry to engage in this escalating patent war, yet when his silly little Pi games fail so miserably, he engages in a public tantrum like this.
O, where can I buy a stuffed, Eric-the-Mole toy?!
You can fool some of the people some of the time……….