Ottawa Intervenes In RIM Patent Infringement Battle

How much more protectionism does Ottawa have to see before the idiots idiots in government realize that they are the only fools who still think free-trade is about equality and freedom. It's imperialism.

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The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter --

Winston Churchill

Come on, here's yet another example of the bandwagon effect anytime anything bad happens to anything remotely canadian. RIM was created here at the University of Waterloo, with our tax dollars, and what have we gotten out of it? It's not like the owner was some guy programming in his basement. Canadians are subsidizing the privatization of research where we foot the bills and somebody else drives out with a porsche. If you live here in Waterloo then you know exactly what kind of corporate neighbour RIM is. Even before the initial court hearing which awarded the damages to NTP RIM was posting excellent profits while laying off workers.
The 'mom and pop' story is NTP, which isn't actually a company at all but a holding company for a retired Chicago electric engineer who holds several patents-including the ones in question.
When RIM first started business it was suing every company in sight, the first within a month of its getting the patent. This is just what goes around comes around. It isn't surprising that the federal government is backing the company, one of the few success stories we've got of our push to privatize research here in Canada (which ended up with most researchers partnering with american firms).

Good points. What would you do though?

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The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter --

Winston Churchill

Given that *every* high tech company lays people off (*cough* Nortel *cough*), RIM is hardly to be considered exceptional for doing so. We did have a tech sector collapse, after all. Speaking as someone working in high tech with friends who have been hired at RIM, I am happy to see them getting a bit of protection from our government. They are one of the few big names in the industry, and I would hate to see them go.

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Canadians are asking, why do americans hate us? They hate our freedoms: our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to disagree with each other.

Speaking as somebody in the tech industry who saw friends hired by RIM park (er, sorry-Waterloons will get that joke) and saw them laid off after a year and a half, many after leaving good paying university jobs, my sympathy is a bit more jaded. Obviously it is misfortunate when people lose jobs, that's the whole point. You now have the situation where those people have homes, jobs, families-only to see that security go down the drain. Coming from the maritimes I guess I am far less sympathetic to that argument though, where I come from this happens as a matter of course.
However, do some research on the tech sector. That burst bubble of, what, almost ten years ago now, almost bankrupted Nortel, a heavily subsidized behemoth. However, that's one company. There are far more people working in IT now than were in the late nineties, the difference is that now nobody is getting those really great salaries, and the government is hiring far less. My sisters both work in IT and describe their jobs as living hell. They work 14 hour days for very little money.
That's all beside the point because as you noticed,the government isn't actually 'doing' anything. Sending a letter begging somebody be nice isn't standing up for anybody.

That was my point. Pussy-footing doesn't work. They have to PROTECT Canadian undustries, and much as that is consdiered heresy these days. The morons in Ottawa and in our corporate culture forget that American and other industrialists may pretend to be their friends, but in reality--they are competitors who love to crush the competition.

I can't help but LOL when I hear the wimpy-Liberals say the "The U.S. isn't respecting free-trade." NO sh*t, sherlock. It's really American nationalism.

HEH!

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The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter --

Winston Churchill

I agree with the previous post, however, when protecting canadian nationalism means protecting canadian corporations that's where our feelings diverge. Canadian corporations are exactly the same as american ones, the same structure, function and sympathies. The tech sector is far more vibrant where many small players compete, rather than a few. Even the research being done on open platforms, where no money is to be made is going through the roof while corporate tech focuses on developing products for technologies twenty years old. Canada, along with the states is a co-sponsor of just about every patent push of the last 15 years, considerably moreso in the agribusiness sector. Once you develop a system you can't cry when it bites you in the butt.

It is the job of the government to provide a healthy climate in which to do business. This court decision weighs very heavily on that climate in Canada.

It's always been part of international law that countries like the US, Canada, Britan, Germany etc., respect each other patent system so that patents in one country are valid in others. This prevents patents being filed in other countries after the fact, and thereby disrupting that market for the patent holder.

What this court decision means is that the US patent system trumps all others. So something patented in Canada can be re-patented in the US by another company, and royalties paid if that Canadian company wants to sell it's products in the US. If the decision stands, many tech companies outside of the US will suffer.

Canada is poised to become a leader in nanotechnology. Should we just give that up before it gets off the ground?


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"If you must kill a man, it costs you nothing to be polite about it." Winston Churchill

That is actually not the point to the court case, go read the respective patents involved, they are all online. RIM was also suing patent holders in the states, and all of RIM's patents were filed in the US as well and pretty much all of RIM's business is conducted there. There is no recognition of patents in international law, and there is none of the 'recognition' you are talking about. If you patent something in Canada it is only good for canada. My wife holds many patents and gets mail from all over the world because her patents have to be filed in every country (the european union has one patent office though)of the world. If what you are saying were true then people would be being arrested in Canada for downloading off of peer to peer networks. Canadian courts have decided otherwise as far as patents go.

Also, I think my general point of disagreement with other posters here is one of fundamental philosophies. I do not believe it's government's job to provide a healthy economic environment for employers. At this point I believe government's function is taking care of the poor,the environment, and all the things which have been horribly abused by a system set up to provide a 'healthy' investment environment- it's failure to do such is the main reason for my involvement in direct democracy. Of course we could argue that all day, however, unless you have information on this case that isn't generally available I think you are jumping the gun in trying to make it a national incident. It's simply a question of who had the patent rights first (not at issue), and whether RIM's product infringes on it. If you look at the court case the judge was not a stupid or political patsy, however, if you look at patents it's clear the whole system is pretty f***** up. The native blood in me shivers every time the word 'patent' comes up.