Tuesday, September 30, 2003

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If they were granting patents on business models back in the 1950s, McDonalds would have been able to shut out Burger King for 17 years! 10:09:22 PM    comment []

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NYT article on NetFlix. A good "backgrounder", won't tell you much you didn't know if you are familiar with NetFlix. The title of the article is "NetFlix uses speed to fend off Wal-Mart", but once again, there is no notice of the amazing 2-day turnaround (for larger cities). I'm a big NetFlix fan, and probably would pay a couple of dollars more for NetFlix just to support them against Wal-Mart, except now we hear that NetFlix has recently "won a patent covering much of its business model. It could use the patent at some point to stifle competitors or, more likely, to demand licensing fees." Enforcing patent on a business model is evil. OTOH, they are fighting Goliath. So I suppose I could withold judgement if they were to use the patent strictly defensively... 10:09:16 PM    comment []