Re: Pushing back the barriers and being demolished by IBM

"Roger Bowler" <rogerbowler-/[email protected]> Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:16:12 -0000
Newsgroups	gmane.comp.emulators.hercules390.advocacy
Message-ID	<[email protected]>
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--- In [email protected], Ron Hilton wrote:
...
> 6. The developer/inventor has a year to decide whether to take
> the next step of filing an NPA, and raise money if necessary.
>=20
> If the developer is not rich and altruistic enough to personally
> pay for the NPA, they would need to find an investor during that
> one-year period of PPA pendency. Investors need to see a return on
> their investment. Although the developer has agreed to license the
> invention for non-commercial Hercules use and commercial IBM use,
> they would still retain the rights for commercial non-IBM use.
...

Ron, this all sounds ok except for two things:

Firstly, what incentive would any investor have to pay for the patent to be=
 filed? As we have seen from recent cases, IBM have various means at their =
disposal to enforce their monopoly in the mainframe space, making commercia=
l use of the patent by anyone other than IBM almost impossible in practical=
 terms. So it's difficult to see how such a patent would be of any value to=
 an investor, especially if a hypothetical "Hercules Inc" has already grant=
ed IBM a license to use it.

Secondly, there's not just the cost of filing the patent, but the cost of d=
efending it too. IBM could simply choose to ignore the patent because they =
know full well that the cost of taking patent action against them would rui=
n anyone except a mega-corporation. Even if the patent holder is right in l=
aw, IBM have the resources to string out the action until the patent holder=
 goes bankrupt or is forced to capitulate on IBM's terms. The value of the =
patent to our hypothetical investor would have to be enormous to justify th=
e expense of mounting an action against IBM for infringement. I cannot see =
anyone on the horizon who is going to take on that sort of liability.

Regards,
Roger Bowler
Hercules "the people's mainframe"




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<br>
--- In <a href="mailto:hercules-advocacy%40yahoogroups.com">[email protected]</a>, Ron Hilton wrote:<br>
...<br>
&gt; 6. The developer/inventor has a year to decide whether to take<br>
&gt; the next step of filing an NPA, and raise money if necessary.<br>
&gt; <br>
&gt; If the developer is not rich and altruistic enough to personally<br>
&gt; pay for the NPA, they would need to find an investor during that<br>
&gt; one-year period of PPA pendency. Investors need to see a return on<br>
&gt; their investment. Although the developer has agreed to license the<br>
&gt; invention for non-commercial Hercules use and commercial IBM use,<br>
&gt; they would still retain the rights for commercial non-IBM use.<br>
...<br>
<br>
Ron, this all sounds ok except for two things:<br>
<br>
Firstly, what incentive would any investor have to pay for the patent to be filed? As we have seen from recent cases, IBM have various means at their disposal to enforce their monopoly in the mainframe space, making commercial use of the patent by anyone other than IBM almost impossible in practical terms. So it's difficult to see how such a patent would be of any value to an investor, especially if a hypothetical &quot;Hercules Inc&quot; has already granted IBM a license to use it.<br>
<br>
Secondly, there's not just the cost of filing the patent, but the cost of defending it too. IBM could simply choose to ignore the patent because they know full well that the cost of taking patent action against them would ruin anyone except a mega-corporation. Even if the patent holder is right in law, IBM have the resources to string out the action until the patent holder goes bankrupt or is forced to capitulate on IBM's terms. The value of the patent to our hypothetical investor would have to be enormous to justify the expense of mounting an action against IBM for infringement. I cannot see anyone on the horizon who is going to take on that sort of liability.<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
Roger Bowler<br>
Hercules &quot;the people's mainframe&quot;<br>
<br>
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