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Intel is taking legal action against a spider's web of patent holders from SoftBank-owned Fortress Investment Group and its network of subsidiaries.
The Japanese megacorp bought the group for $3.3bn in late 2017, and Chipzilla claims Fortress has become more aggressive in an effort to justify its sales price to its new owners.
Intel is suing the company under the Sherman and Clayton antitrust acts to "prevent and restrain Defendants' anticompetitive conduct".
Intel argues in court documents (PDF) that Fortress is asserting patent rights that would not have been considered enforceable by their original owners.
The documents also claim that Fortress has no interest in licensing these patents in the normal way, but prefers to boost the value of its patent portfolio by linking worthless patents with valuable ones.
This war chest of aggregated patents, Intel alleges, allows Fortress to bring case after case against a company until it folds or pays well over the market value for the intellectual property held to stop the litigation.
This strategy, Intel claims, makes it more likely that weak or unenforceable patents are found to be valid in the courts because they are aggregated with patents that may have some merit. It also gives Fortress the opportunity to gain sets of patents that could provide alternatives to each other, which damages competition in the same way that a merger of competing companies can.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by deimtee on Wednesday October 30 2019, @04:35AM (3 children)
That StopSaw is amazing. Even more amazing were the people complaining about it. It has to be so fast that every time it activates and stops you chopping a finger off it destroys the brake block and the blade, for a cost of about $70.
There were legions of idiots complaining about that, saying that $70 was too expensive. I'm sure that re-attaching a couple of fingers is cheaper and easier.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday October 30 2019, @01:31PM (2 children)
I knew about the Stop Saw, but didn't have the room in the garage for it - used a lightweight, compact table saw instead.
Out of pocket costs for a minimal fingertip bone cut: $5K. Stop Saw price: $2500.
For me, it's not about the money.
Real cost of the cut: (minor) lifetime pain and minimal disability due to missing 2mm of thumb tip. Plus approximately 120 hours spent in various appointments, surgeries, therapies, etc. over the course of 3 months. Got to meet lots of other table saw victims, all with worse injuries than mine.
Real cost of the Stop Saw: it would take up twice as much space in the garage as my compact table saw that I still have and use. With 120 hours of remedial education, I think I can avoid a 2nd accident.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Wednesday October 30 2019, @03:11PM (1 child)
Ouch.
I don't have the StopSaw either, but I am careful with the power tools I have (a Triton system). One of the best wakeup calls I ever got was one day when I was wearing safety glasses while using a jigsaw. It bound in the cut, twisted slightly and half a blade left a crater in the glasses directly in front of my right eye. Long time ago, but some things make an impression. I never cut without safety glasses.
From what I remember the guy was trying to sell StopSaw to schools, but all the schools here have stopped woodwork and metalwork classes anyway.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday October 30 2019, @03:48PM
I blame my safety glasses, along with a half dozen other factors, for my cut injury.
Don't cut when you're tired.
Don't cut when you're angry.
Don't cut when you're tired and angry and it's getting dark.
Don't cut when ... and you've only recently started to lose your "reading vision".
Don't cut when ... and your safety glasses are foggy, but that's hard to tell because of reduced vision in the twilight.
Don't cut when ... and the blade is set for 1.5" thick wood, but you're making 3/4" thick pieces to fit in window tracks.
Don't cut when ... and you're frustrated because it's the third trip back to the saw to get the piece to fit properly.
And, the only one that really matters:
Don't cut when ... and your thumbtip is going to catch the blade as you push the piece through.
Had just gotten home from work and the kids were having a party opening the porch windows and pushing out the screens so they could go run around outside, never did finish making the blocks for the window tracks, and didn't have to... hours spent sitting in the car while Dad was in the emergency room / surgery / therapy appointments seemed to get the message across.
🌻🌻 [google.com]