Come with me on a journey through uncharted territory...
Quotes:
How can a woman be expected to be happy with a man who insists on treating her as if she were a perfectly normal human being. - Oscar Wilde
Quotes:
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. - Albert Einstein
Quotes:
Education: that which reveals to the wise, and conceals from the stupid, the vast limits of their knowledge. - Mark Twain
Quotes:
I thoroughly disapprove of duels. If a man should challenge me, I would take him kindly and forgivingly by the hand and lead him to a quiet place and kill him. - Mark Twain
Quotes:
Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence. - Albert Einstein
Monday, March 20, 2006
Despicable Business Model
Forgent Networks Inc. is a company with (what I consider to be) an appalling business model. Yes, the capitalistic portion of my soul says 'cool - thats great - I'm impressed someone thought of it' but the rest of me wants to puke.
Their model operates on purchasing up companies who own little known patents, then suing companies for royalties. A practice known as 'patent trolling'.
A fine example of this is U.S. Patent No. 4,698,672 - this is for the JPEG compression technique used in PC's & Digital Cameras. Forgent purchased Compression Labs, then proceeded to sue a number of companies for failing to pay royalties. Forgent has collected around $105 million in royalties from different electronics and software companies..
Requests have been made to the Patent office to have the patent reviewed it will be interesting to see the outcome.
Is there a name for this immoral behaviour? Like, badgering, or blackmail or bloody hell?
There's something rotten in the state of business.