April 23, 2012

Microsoft Scores Big Win in Patent Wars

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The decadence of the modern high-tech industry is on full display today:

Microsoft, which just bought patents from AOL for more than $1 billion, is now selling most of them to Facebook for $550 million. The two companies said Monday that Facebook is buying about 650 of the 925 patents and patent applications. Facebook will get a license to use the rest of the patents. Microsoft will also get a license to use the patents that Facebook is buying.

So there you have it. Each patent is worth about a million bucks, or one one-thousandth of an Instagram. This means that these patents are either ridiculously expensive or else ridiculously cheap. I can’t quite figure out which.

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“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

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