• AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet
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    938 months ago

    Stupid paywall, on a stupid article, about a stupid company, run by a stupid little piss boy. No thanks.

    • @[email protected]
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      398 months ago

      Lynn Doan Tue, March 19, 2024 at 11:14 AM GMT·1 min read

      (Bloomberg) – Reddit Inc., the social media platform gearing up for an initial public offering this week, said Nokia Oyj has accused it of infringing some of their patents.

      Nokia Technologies, the company’s licensing business, sent Reddit a letter on Monday with the claims, and Reddit is evaluating them, according to a filing made Tuesday. “As we face increasing competition and become increasingly high profile, the possibility of receiving more intellectual property claims against us grows,” Reddit said in the filing. Nokia’s claims come as Reddit prepares for an initial public offering in an effort to raise hundreds of millions of dollars. The company has been working toward a listing for years, and its public market debut this week is set to become a high-profile addition to the year’s roster of newly and soon-to-be public companies.

      Nokia is no stranger to patent fights. In February, the company reached a patent agreement with Chinese phone maker Vivo, ending a years-long dispute that dragged the two companies into court and forced Vivo to pull out of Germany. In 2021, Daimler and Nokia settled a dispute over the licensing of wireless technology patents in cars, ending a legal battle that had at one point threatened sales of the iconic Mercedes brand in its home country.

  • @[email protected]
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    8 months ago

    I tend to be principally against patents in general, as research suggests they actually stifle innovation rather than incentivize it. But in this case I’d say ‘let them fight, and may they both lose’.

    • @[email protected]
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      238 months ago

      It’s both. Patents are just a legal tool, and can be used and/or abused as the imperfect regulations allow.

      • @[email protected]
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        8 months ago

        It’s a legal tool that turns ideas into property. This allows capital to exercise power over it and profit through it, and on top of that inhibits innovation. So l’d say there is no use or abuse, it’s a bad legal framework that doesn’t achieve societal benefits.

        • @[email protected]
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          138 months ago

          So to be fair it’s not like all patents are" I have an idea and I want to stop others from using it". Many are companies submitting technical documentation that the company spent millions of dollars to develop, they should get a head start on using it. After the patent expires everyone can use the tech that the original developer may have kept as trade secret instead. Of course they can be abused like most other things but there is definitely a use case for patents.

        • @[email protected]
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          8 months ago

          This allows capital to exercise power over it and profit through it

          Of course it does… patent law as it stands goes hand-in-hand with capitalist economic systems. Patents are intended to incentivize investing in ideas. (That’s a lot of ‘i’s!)

          On the other hand, people who come up with ideas are workers, too, and a system devoid of any means to discourage/prevent parasitic engagement—wherein others reap the rewards of these workers’ labor—doesn’t seem like the opposite of capitalism, either.

          Edit: To be clear, I think current regulations need improvement, and am in no way defending patent trolls. If the intend goal of patent law does not align with its observed ramifications, the law should be changed.

          • @[email protected]
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            58 months ago

            It requires capital to obtain a patent and to defend a patent, workers are inherently excluded from this proces.

            • @[email protected]
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              118 months ago

              Again, you’ve identified a problem with the current implementation of patent law, not patents themselves.

              • @[email protected]
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                38 months ago

                I’m starting to get the feeling that we are both repeating ourselves, but this is not a just a side effect, it is systematic. Turning an idea into property means only capital can play the game. In effect patents do two things: Firstly they inhibits innovation, the exact opposite of what they are supposed to do, this should be ground enough to get rid of them. Second they entrench big players, big players have more money to play the patent game and so tend to win patent fights regardless of merit. So besides not achieving their so called stated goal they also have a huge negative externality. And all this before we even take patent trolls into account.

  • @[email protected]
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    478 months ago

    Nokia is no stranger to patent fights. In February, the company reached a patent agreement with Chinese phone maker Vivo, ending a years-long dispute that dragged the two companies into court and forced Vivo to pull out of Germany. In 2021, Daimler and Nokia settled a dispute over the licensing of wireless technology patents in cars, ending a legal battle that had at one point threatened sales of the iconic Mercedes brand in its home country.

    Is Nokia becoming some sort of patent troll?

    • Skua
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      8 months ago

      Nokia actually is a big player in 5G networks, which is what the Vivo one was about. I’m not sure you can call them a patent troll for defending patents that they’re actually using

      • @[email protected]
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        268 months ago

        Right, but all those cases involved companies that were doing legit things with wireless. This is Reddit, though. Where do their businesses intercept?

        The only thing I can think of is maybe they have some patent on actual trolls. They are from a Nordic country, after all.

    • @[email protected]
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      8 months ago

      There is a Nokia branch called Nokia Technologies. They invest money in R&D, they file for genuine patents involving new technology, for instance in audio and video compression. (They want to sue Netflix or already sued). Them defending themselves against patent abuse is how they earn money. And they go against other big corps. This is vastly different than your typical patent troll.

      • @[email protected]
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        78 months ago

        Is the only difference that they aren’t actively buying up and hoarding other patents not filed in house? Because what you described is SOP for patent trolls.

        It boils down to how broadly they interpret infringements. Not whether they did the R&D themselves (I.E. not buying companies for their patents)

        • @[email protected]
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          8 months ago

          Be careful not to assign a “patent troll” label to everyone defending their patent portfolio. Where do you mark the line?

          • @[email protected]
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            118 months ago

            I’m a software engineer. Most things should not be patentable.

            Look and feel? No. Basic architecture? No. Given the same set of problems, engineers are very likely to come up with similar solutions.

            I once designed an extremely complicated framework for TV apps. My boss at one point was impressed because he sat in on a “lecture” I was giving to a new teammate describing the architecture and why the complexity was needed. My boss got eager and asked if it was something we could patent. I said no.

            About a year later, a coworker sent me an article from Netflix describing an extremely similar solution to what I had devised, from around the same time.

            Same problem, pursued completely independently, with very similar solutions.

            I believe that anti theft laws are sufficient for protecting proprietary algorithms/protocols, which does need to be protected. But ideas shouldn’t be patentable.

            I.E., gestures to navigate? No. Bezzles on smart screens? No. Backwards engineering your 5G protocol to be used with unapproved devices? Should be protected, but I don’t think patents should be the vehicle. Backwards engineering your own 5G protocol that’s very similar? Ehhhh debatable

            • @[email protected]
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              78 months ago

              Mechanical Engineer - hard disagree. Spending four years of iteration and design to make a final product with no protection would be ridiculous.

              All someone has to do to copy a part is buy it and start making it. Which means all the money and time spent making the new widget is wasted.

    • @[email protected]
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      48 months ago

      “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain”
      Nokia has chosen both ways at once.

    • @RamblingPanda
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      88 months ago

      Sorry, but he’s a butt plug. And full of shit.

  • @[email protected]
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    8 months ago

    Nokia is like a mosquito that uses patents to leech off of other companies. What a great business model. A real useful niche they’re filling.

    • @[email protected]
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      438 months ago

      Nokia invents patented technology they use in their products (hint, not a cellphone)

      Another company illegally uses this technology without a license

      Nokia sues them for using their proprietary systems without permission

      “Nokia is such a parasite”

    • @[email protected]
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      238 months ago

      “What a mosquito”, he says to the trampling mastodon that basically runs all of the B2B wireless tech in the majority of the world.

    • amigan
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      58 months ago

      You realize they own Bell Labs, the organization that humanity owes the information age to, right?