A shining emblem of the failure of the US legal system.
It's all here under one roof. The dysfunction of USPTO in granting the patents that were originally asserted then thrown out, our IP laws in general allowing not-practicing patent trolls to shake down entire industries. Those same businesses gaming the system against each other by paying millions in settlement fees to SCO to then tie up their competition in court for decades. After the collapse of the patent claims, having the claims fall back to copyright on 20 year old code.Then allowing an endless stream of zombie companies that are a front for the lawyers slowly draining the accumulated extor-- I mean "settlement" money out of the shell company. IBMs settlement is the icing on the cake, as the way the courts work here, the blood sucking ticks can run up costs in the millions stalling things in court for years, but sell all the IP assets to another company the night before a ruling goes against them, declare bankruptcy and shuffle across the street to a new rented conference room across the street.
We need to reform this stuff, or we might not make it to the next chapter of American history.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
