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Codebreaker

Paul Allen renews lawsuit against everyone everywhere for doing everything

John Moe Dec 29, 2010

The Microsoft co-founder has been actively suing the following companies for a while now: Apple, Google, Facebook, eBay, AOL, Netflix, Yahoo, Google’s YouTube, OfficeMax, Office Depot and Staples. He says that they’re all infringing on technology patents he acquired long ago. The case was rejected by a federal judge on December 10th for being too vague but Allen was given until the 28th to beef up his case. Apparently he made it in just under the wire with exhibits detailing just how a lot of these companies stole his idea. For instance, when Apple sees what artists you’re looking at on iTunes and then offers suggestions for similar artists, Allen says he thought of that first. It’s doubtful that Allen, who is still one of the richest people in the world, will shut down any of these technologies, but he may make yet more money. As a fan of the Paul Allen-owned Seattle Seahawks, I hope he spends his settlement on getting the team an actual defense.

Also: wait, OFFICE MAX?

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