bdraw
02-09-2008, 10:16 PM
Technology is very difficult to develop and while our patent system is broken it is important that a company's investment is protected. It seems that the larger the company, the less innovation they are capable of. But to create a start-up is a big risk and without big rewards innovation would be stifled. The problem is that without patents these smaller companies stand no chance. They take all the risk of losing alot of money and without some sort of gov't protection, a bigger company can use the smaller companies innovations and force them out of business.
This is what I see happening to TiVo. They spent alot of money to create great technology and when the bigger companies decided to copy their product, TiVo has no choice but to sue to protect their investment. While it's easy to brush them off and say they should innovate more to sell more rather than to sue, all that would happen is others would continue to copy their technology. The reason why Dish is the one being sued it because they are the one who has refused to pay for licensing -- DirecTV has a deal with TiVo. Of course only a court can decide what is patent infringement, it isn't fair for people to pass judgement and say just because TiVo is the one suing they must be wrong, when in fact TiVo has been winning in court.
This is what I see happening to TiVo. They spent alot of money to create great technology and when the bigger companies decided to copy their product, TiVo has no choice but to sue to protect their investment. While it's easy to brush them off and say they should innovate more to sell more rather than to sue, all that would happen is others would continue to copy their technology. The reason why Dish is the one being sued it because they are the one who has refused to pay for licensing -- DirecTV has a deal with TiVo. Of course only a court can decide what is patent infringement, it isn't fair for people to pass judgement and say just because TiVo is the one suing they must be wrong, when in fact TiVo has been winning in court.