Hulu sued for patent infringement

You misunderstood my statement. I asked how this drives innovation, not why they’re allowed to sue. I understand that perfectly. Newton said that we got to where we were by standing on the shoulders of giants. These days, it seems that the giants would prefer to pull everyone off of their shoulders, stomp them into the ground, and tell them to become giants on their own.

I merely fail to see how we (as consumers) benefit if everyone is obligated to reinvent the wheel in a subtly different fashion, when a perfectly serviceable wheel already exists.

Why would people be interested in inventing something if it were not profitable. The companies stealing technology should pay the patent holders, not steal the technology. I don’t see how we as consumers benefit from people not inventing new technology just merely stealing.

It’s a software patent, they have no protection for independent discovery.  The basis for most software is mathematical discovery,  I say it again, DISCOVERY, not invention.  Which means there are very few ways to get something done, at least efficiently.  You’re under the assumption that IP patents are tangible things, and Hulu STOLE something from Rovi.  In reality Rovi came up with/bought something, patented it.  Then Hulu came up with the exact same thing, on their own dime, but somehow are being asked to pay Rovi for it, which is B.S. IMHO.  I’m willing to bet that if they scour Hulu’s source code, you won’t find any of it is from Rovi.  Ideas are cheap, the only reason some companies have patents is because they have the money to piss away on filing them.  Small, fast and innovative(read HUNGRY) companies generally don’t have that luxury because money is tight.  This current IP patent system is doing nothing but creating barriers to entry.

One wonders what happened before patents, then. It’s a miracle anything was ever invented at all!

Also, you should look at the fashion industry. They have no patent or copyright protection, and yet… somehow, they continue to make things. I can’t imagine why, but there you go.

Are companies stealing brand names or patented logos? Not unless they are black market items. Do they have similar styles and designs? Sure. These are 2 very different industries to compare, apples to oranges really.I’m sure things like the zipper had patents and companies had to pay to use them at first.

Netflix is charging more because the MPAA wants more money from them. They can either pass those costs on to the consumer in a controllable fashion, or swallow those costs and die.

I know which one I’d prefer.