Just think how far we’ve come from the endlessly debated but completed abstract notion of “intellectual property.” This is how the racket works in the real world:
Google, which owns the fast-growing Android operating system used in millions of mobile phones, has a thin portfolio of wireless and telecommunications patents. That makes the Internet search giant vulnerable to patent-infringement lawsuits.
The acquisition of InterDigital’s intellectual property could help insulate Google’s Android franchise from a growing number of lawsuits against device makers such as Samsung Electronics Co., HTC Corp. and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., which use the software to power their smartphones and tablet computers.
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so IP is a just something the innovator has to bother with, not the opposite.
+1
Think of the fashion industry. What if you were making new designs and a lawsuit kept you from releasing them to production.
Well, this is well known. To be a player you _have_ to have a patent portfolio. It’s like Mutual Assured Destruction. No patent red button and lawyer-laden reaper drones will swoop down on your territory from nowhere.
This is also why “patent trolls” can exist. They have patents but they don’t produce anything, so have zero attack surface for a retaliatory strike.
From http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/8648328/Eric-Schmidt-Googles-mobile-rivals-are-suing-because-they-cant-compete.html :
Google’s Eric Schmidt: “We have seen an explosion of Android devices entering the market and, because of our successes, competitors are responding with lawsuits as they cannot respond through innovations.”
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