Paul Allen to sue Google and Apple

[Boob-No-More]

Because of the Rose Quarter development agreement with the City of Portland and being stuck with a large arena with no major tenant it would be far cheaper to sell the Blazers and buy the rights for a Seattle expansion franchise (and the Sonics name and brand that would come with it) from Stern.

Yes, but Paul Allen wants to win a championship in his lifetime. The Blazers are poised to be championship contenders. Starting over with an expansion team is not the shortest path to a championship. Who knows how much longer Paul Allen will live. Hopefully, a long time, but given his health issues, I think he'd prefer to keep the Blazers rather than start from scratch with an expansion franchise.

BNM

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Yes, but Paul Allen wants to win a championship in his lifetime. The Blazers are poised to be championship contenders. Starting over with an expansion team is not the shortest path to a championship. Who knows how much longer Paul Allen will live. Hopefully, a long time, but given his health issues, I think he'd prefer to keep the Blazers rather than start from scratch with an expansion franchise.

BNM

He's not moving the team to Seattle. If he wants to keep the team he will keep them in Portland. If he wants a Seattle based NBA team he'll have to sell the Blazers first.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Allen's patent lawsuit is all about his legacy

Something's up with Paul Allen.

His bombshell Friday — a lawsuit against Apple, Google, Facebook and others for patent infringement — was just the latest symptom.

I'm convinced the lawsuit is about more than money. It's about building his legacy, in more ways than one.

Allen was treated for a recurrence of cancer last November, finishing the treatment earlier this year.

A spokesman said Allen "has no medical issues in front of him and he is back in full swing."

When you go through that sort of thing, you get your affairs in order. You think about what you'll leave behind if things go south, and you wonder how you'll be remembered.

It's an odd time to haul your billionaire tech pals into court. Not too long ago — in early 2009 — Allen was publicly wishing Steve Jobs luck with his medical problems.

Allen's spokesman insisted Friday that the lawsuit isn't happening because Allen needs the money.

Just last month the 57-year-old bachelor pledged most of his $13 billion fortune to charity. He has been a huge supporter of nonprofit groups, the arts and scientific research, especially in the Northwest.

But at the same time, he's been more aggressively monetizing assets he has piled up, before he began moving down the "world's richest" list. Just five years ago Forbes listed him, at $22 billion, as the third-richest person in America, behind Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.

Since then Allen's biggest investment, St. Louis-based cable company Charter Communications, went bankrupt.

Last year the Forbes list put him at 17, well below the Google guys, Michael Dell and even Steve Ballmer, who held onto most of his Microsoft stake.

In the meantime, Allen is selling his 303-foot yacht.

He subdivided the Experience Music Project, squeezing in a science-fiction museum. He trimmed and then sold companies, such as Kirkland set-top maker Digeo.

In Seattle, Allen is squeezing every leasable square foot out of the South Lake Union properties he bought eons ago for a city park.

Now he's decided to make the most of four patents filed from 1996 to 2000 by Interval Research, a think tank in Palo Alto, Calif., he bankrolled until the dot-com collapse.

If Allen wins, the payoff could conceivably be $500 million, $1 billion, or more. It could even result in licensing deals that funnel money to his holding company or charitable foundation into the future.

The timing is unusual.

Allen's spokesman, David Postman, said attorneys were asked to review the patents "years ago."

"We're to the point of reviewing the portfolio and seeing at the same time if technology in the marketplace has caught up with where Interval was," he said.

More enlightening was a conversation I had Friday with a patent expert, Christopher Cotropia, of the University of Richmond in Virginia.

Cotropia was surprised when I mentioned that Allen's lawsuit was announced with a news release. Usually patent-licensing deals are quieter. Companies often reach settlements before any lawsuits are filed, or they make licensing deals that draw little attention.

"The one thing about filing a court case is it creates a public record — it's a public statement," Cotropia said.

Even if Allen loses, the lawsuit told the world that Allen funded early research into the sort of technology used by Apple, Google, Facebook and others.

The 15-page suit, filed in federal court in Seattle, calls out Google in particular, mentioning that Interval supported research by Google's founders and collaborated with them when they were still at Stanford. This is mentioned where the history of Interval is presented, not where the patent violations are listed.

Interval, the suit says, "evolved into one of the preeminent technology firms. It employed over 110 of the world's leading scientists, physicists, and engineers, and was at the forefront in designing next-generation science and technology."

"A lot of times the complaints try to tell stories," Cotropia explained. "You read the complaint and he's talking about how this company was created.... He gets to tell this story of 'how we were early pioneers.' "

In other words, the lawsuit has called out otherwise obscure work that Allen bankrolled in the dawn of the Web era.

What more could Allen — a lifelong bachelor — want at this point in his life than to be known as a visionary who contributed to the success not just of Microsoft but of Google, Apple, Facebook, Yahoo and others?

A Super Bowl victory for his Seahawks or an NBA title for his Trail Blazers would also be nice, but you can only hold your breath so long.

Suing today's most respected tech companies is an unusual path to take. Allen must have decided that it's worth ruffling feathers today to secure a certain position in the history book.

Cotropia said the lawsuit could be about "attribution."

He said it best:

"There's definitely a personal story here."

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2012751147_brier30.html

 

[crandc]

Interesting take, Dog, but wishing Jobs well in his health does not contradict a lawsuit. You'd have to be a pretty nasty person to wish someone with cancer ill health. As they say, it's business, not personal.

 

[EL PRESIDENTE]

Seems to me that Allen is going through stages of anger or hostility, probably spurred on by his diagnosis. He seems more aggressive recently and this could be due to the stress of his condition more than anything. While having a legacy may play a part, I think he is seeming to right the wrongs that he sees, both in the Blazers organization and with these patents.

He has the right to sue though, which is why we have IP Law to begin with. To protect the ideas and concepts which he developed and others are using for their own profit.

 

[Boob-No-More]

He's not moving the team to Seattle. If he wants to keep the team he will keep them in Portland. If he wants a Seattle based NBA team he'll have to sell the Blazers first.

Why would he want an expansion team in a city that didn't support the last team they had when he has a possible championship contender in a ctiy that supports them?

Given his health status and general behavior recently, I think they last thing he'd want to do is start over with an expansion team in Seattle at this point in his life. Seems like a huge step backwards to me.

BNM

 

[SlyPokerDog]

Why would he want an expansion team in a city that didn't support the last team they had when he has a possible championship contender in a ctiy that supports them?

Given his health status and general behavior recently, I think they last thing he'd want to do is start over with an expansion team in Seattle at this point in his life. Seems like a huge step backwards to me.

BNM

LOL! You keep missing the point, not sure if that's intentional. All I'm saying is that he's not moving the team to Seattle. Doesn't matter what the roster looks like. It ain't happening. If he wants a Seattle based team (and give up a championship potential roster) he would sell the Blazers and buy an expansion team. But this roster will not be playing in Seattle.

 

[jlprk]

When any other business sues another (Microsoft gets sued every month), the media treats it as business as usual. When our owner does so, we have to read freshman-level psychoanalysis about why on Earth would Paul Allen ever do anything in the world of business?

He's supposed to suck his thumb in his infantile coccoon, overfunding our sports fantasies while we kick him around. Canzano's whipping boy is acting crazy--what is wrong with him?

 

[OddEnormous]

overfunding our sports fantasies

Nobody asked him to do it. And he sure as fuck isn't doing it for us.

 

[EL PRESIDENTE]

When any other business sues another (Microsoft gets sued every month), the media treats it as business as usual. When our owner does so, we have to read freshman-level psychoanalysis about why on Earth would Paul Allen ever do anything in the world of business?

He's supposed to suck his thumb in his infantile coccoon, overfunding our sports fantasies while we kick him around. Canzano's whipping boy is acting crazy--what is wrong with him?

We wouldn't do it if we got explanations as to why Pritch/Penn were canned. So he brought this upon himself.

 

[jlprk]

We wouldn't do it if we got explanations as to why Pritch/Penn were canned. So he brought this upon himself.

Allen has no obligation to tell us the gossip on what those lowlifes went around saying to lose their jobs.

Pritchard was so grateful for how Allen, despite his anger, took care to not give in to Canzano's howling to embarrass Pritchard, that Pritchard wrote a public letter praising Allen. How ironic that Canzano called this guilt letter classy, and Allen's professionalism in refraining from attacking Pritchard, classless.

 

[OddEnormous]

Allen has no obligation to tell us the gossip on what those lowlifes went around saying to lose their jobs./QUOTE]

Nobody said he did.

But if he doesn't, he can expect backlash. Fair or not. Like it or not. He can expect it.

Except from you of course as you are a boot licking stooge.

 

[Nikolokolus]

Allen has no obligation to tell us the gossip on what those lowlifes went around saying to lose their jobs./QUOTE]

Nobody said he did.

But if he doesn't, he can expect backlash. Fair or not. Like it or not. He can expect it.

Except from you of course as you are a boot licking stooge.

You have something against The Stooges?

[video=youtube;BJIqnXTqg8I]

 

[OddEnormous]

You have something against The Stooges?

[video=youtube;BJIqnXTqg8I]

Hells no!!!!! top class

 

[barfo]

Nobody asked him to do it.

I not only asked him to do it, I'm asking him to continue doing it.

And he sure as fuck isn't doing it for us.

It needs to be about you?

barfo

 

[barfo]

We wouldn't do it if we got explanations as to why Pritch/Penn were canned. So he brought this upon himself.

True. Owning a team requires obeying certain employment laws. So since he chose to buy the team, he brought this on himself.

barfo

 

[OddEnormous]

I not only asked him to do it, I'm asking him to continue doing it.

No you didn't and no you aren't

It needs to be about you?

I never came close to saying that.

Are you related to Ed O?

I don't matter and Paul Allen isn't doing this for anyone other than himself.

 

[barfo]

No you didn't and no you aren't

Yes I did and yes I am.

Are you related to Ed O?

Yes.

I don't matter and Paul Allen isn't doing this for anyone other than himself.

Agreed and so what?

barfo

 

[OddEnormous]

Agreed and so what?

barfo

You're the one who asked.

 

[barfo]

You're the one who asked.

I asked whether it needed to be about you. I said "so what" about your assertion that he was doing it for himself.

barfo

 

[OddEnormous]

I asked whether it needed to be about you. I said "so what" about your assertion that he was doing it for himself.

barfo

You're the one who came in midway through the conversation. If your that interested go back and figure it out for yourself.

 

[barfo]

You're the one who came in midway through the conversation. If your that interested go back and figure it out for yourself.

Oh, forgive me for being late to the party. Traffic was horrible.

barfo

 

[jlprk]

I wanna be your dog.