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THE
VIEW FROM HERE
Geo-Lawsuits and You
It saddens me that much of my time and energy of
late has been devoted to following one or another lawsuit
in the geospatial industry. On one hand, it’s positive
that as adults, unlike bullies on the playground, we can
work through a formal process to determine an outcome. On
the other hand, an awful lot of time and money is spent by
companies involved (and, I suppose by the folks who pay
me) on these cases, which no doubt impacts the company’s
other areas of business (and the other stories I might
pursue).
While I find parts of investigating lawsuits
interesting, and that provides me with a bit of a carrot
to keep tabs on suits and countersuits, why should users
of geotechnology, or even those casually interested in it,
care about lawsuits? There are a few reasons.
First off, the truth is that in today’s
marketplace, companies are using licensing and litigation
as a profit center. Intergraph and HP both have divisions
assigned to intellectual property protection. Both
companies report how much money these divisions “bring
in.” While a bit different, Autodesk regularly reports
the fines paid by those who “pirate” its software,
while promoting its work within the Business Software
Alliance.
Second, digging into the suits can give one an
appreciation for what patents are, and how they work.
While much of the language is technical or formal, reading
summaries and looking at the figures can reveal quite a
bit about what the patent holder felt was unique about the
invention. Of course, on reading a patent, it’s also
possible to find the “invention” is not unique at all.
And, that’s valuable, too!
Third, and I think this is pretty subtle, exploring
the deep guts of software via patents, you get the sense
of how similar some software processes and products indeed
are. For those who have worked exclusively with one or two
software packages for a few years, it’s interesting to
see that the “other ones” have similar or very similar
commands. Does that mean that there’s patent
infringement? Sometimes yes, sometimes no.
Fourth, there’s more and more discussion of
intellectual property in standards. Standards are supposed
to be public, open and available to all. But, it’s
possible for bits of proprietary intellectual property to
be inside (either by accident or on purpose). That has led
to lawsuits in the electronics arena (Rambus v. Infineon)
and has impacted how some standards organizations now work
with intellectual property. It’s forced some
implementers of standards to have to pay licensing fees.
It’s even impacting whether some groups will even
participate in standards setting organizations at all.
Finally, the reality of how lawsuits play out is
instructive. I recently ran into a situation where one
company sued a smaller one for patent infringement.
Several months later, the larger company bought the
smaller one. I understand that “is done.” In other
cases, a larger (wealthier) company can essentially use
its resources to shut down a smaller one by whittling away
at its financial base. Sometimes, of course, the little
guy wins.
So, while sometimes these lawsuits may appear to be
just so much noise, like eating your vegetables and taking
a bath before bedtime, keeping an eye on them is “good
for you” in the long run.
On a more cheery note, I want to congratulate
Editorial Advisory Board Member Susan Carson Lambert who
recently received the Kentucky Association of Mapping
Professionals 2004 “service to the mapping community”
award.
Also on a positive note, I want to wish readers all
the best for the holidays. As we look to the new year,
you’ll see issues tackling sharing in geotechnologies
(February), preparation and response (March), return on
investment (April), photogrammetry (May), field
applications (June), transportation/utilities (July),
education (August), local and regional government
(September), the Web (October), multispectral imagery
(November), and the future (December). If you have stories
on these topics, or others, that you’d like to share,
please contact me.
Adena Schutzberg, Editor
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