AOL Sells Patents to Microsoft for $1.056 Billion

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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AOL announced on Friday that the company had concluded transactions with Microsoft to purchase 800 AOL patents for a little over $1 Billion dollars. The infusion of cash will be channeled back to AOL investors.

The move is a big one for another reason: It shows that Microsoft would rather spend the cash on patents rather than get sued over them at some point down the line.
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It'd be interesting if Microsoft started suing companies after buying these patents. I read somewhere that such a thing was a really good business model.
 
I know one thing they got in the deal...

Windows-8-Demotivator.jpg

:D
 
That's hilarious...and Microsoft should go with AOL's color scheme in Windows 8.
 
SkribbelKat said:
It'd be interesting if Microsoft started suing companies after buying these patents. I read somewhere that such a thing was a really good business model.
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There's two types of companies these days: successful companies, and companies that sue other companies based on patents.
 
I actually use AOL, back in the day. Well I used it to connect to the internet with my 9600 serial port modem. I then used Netscape to actually surf the internet. Mostly for pr0n.

heatlesssun said:
Funny the first 832 times you see this.
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Still funny.
 
SkribbelKat said:
It'd be interesting if Microsoft started suing companies after buying these patents. I read somewhere that such a thing was a really good business model.
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Works well. A non-innovating-entity can often protect the cash cows with huge law suits. Also they might want to do more of their own dirty work as writing a check to SCO didn't seem to work (for them or for Sun) in stopping Linux servers.
 
What did AOL patent? Shitty customer service? Auto spam accounts? Inability to cancel accounts? Convincing old people they are the Internet?

I really have no idea what they would have gotten a patent on.
 
darkpaw said:
What did AOL patent? Shitty customer service? Auto spam accounts? Inability to cancel accounts? Convincing old people they are the Internet?

I really have no idea what they would have gotten a patent on.
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Rumor is that they acquired the Netscape patents. http://redmondmag.com/articles/2012/04/09/microsoft-to-buy-aol-patents.aspx

If the patents are associated with AOL's Netscape holdings, it would represent a final endgame of sorts for a long-defunct browser that once overshadowed Microsoft's current frontrunner, Internet Explorer. AOL announced its purchase plans for Netscape in the fall of 1998, but it gradually wound down the original developer team's efforts on the browser over subsequent years. Netscape diminished in use. However, code for the browser previously had been forked into an open source Mozilla Project in January of 1998. The Mozilla Corp. was founded by the Project to foster that code, which resulted in the Firefox browser that's in use today.
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That makes things interesting, since Netscape forked into Firefox.
 
Microsoft certainly doesn’t have any plans to bring back the Netscape browser. AOL stopped developing it years ago. Its code-base eventually became the Firefox Web browser. Netscape’s intellectual property (IP), however also included such universal Web browser mainstays as Secure Socket Layers (SSL), cookies, and JavaScript. It’s these old Netscape patents that Microsoft is paying a billion bucks for. And, you know what? For a mere billion Microsoft got a steal of a deal.
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http://www.zdnet.com/blog/networkin...pe-web-patents-from-aol-to-attack-google/2203


So Microsoft would now own the SSL, Cookie, and Javascript patents? That can't bode well for other browsers.
 
Wumpus said:
Funny until you are forced to use metro.
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Yes, the MiBs who work at Microsoft will be showing up at your house first to force the new OS down your throat and install various mechanisms that prevent you from downloading and using Linux or any previous Microsoft product. :rolleyes:
 
SkribbelKat said:
Yes, the MiBs who work at Microsoft will be showing up at your house first to force the new OS down your throat and install various mechanisms that prevent you from downloading and using Linux or any previous Microsoft product. :rolleyes:
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There was only once place I've worked at that would let people replace the OS on their (work) computer (I was stuck using win 7 due to the CAD software I needed to use, but if I wiped it and dual booted nobody would mind). Is your place hiring?
 
Wumpus said:
There was only once place I've worked at that would let people replace the OS on their (work) computer (I was stuck using win 7 due to the CAD software I needed to use, but if I wiped it and dual booted nobody would mind). Is your place hiring?
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Work? Just quit. You're an employee at will, right?
 
darkpaw said:
What did AOL patent? Shitty customer service? Auto spam accounts? Inability to cancel accounts? Convincing old people they are the Internet?

I really have no idea what they would have gotten a patent on.
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Apparently 500 to 600 patents on instant messaging. How trivial must 499 of those patents be?
 
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