Thanks Jim for the entertainment. I was party to a similar mess. My father owned an operated a small Electrical Supply business that I worked at since the age of 8. I was recently pulled into a large class-action Asbestos suit against the business since I was the only one still alive through the period of interest (1960s).
I was subject to a deposition in a room with 50+ lawyers and myself. The whole situation was so surreal. The questioning went something like this: Q: Did you sell lighting fixtures with wire? A: Yes Q: Did it have asbestos? A: No Q: How can you be so sure. A: I hung over 20,000 fixtures in the showroom over the years. In order to save time, I would strip the wire with my teeth. I think I'd know if they contained asbestos by now. Q: You'd do what? A: I'd strip the wire with my teeth. I can demonstrate, if you want. I was told that I had the record for a deposition in this case, lasting almost 4 hours. A month later I got the transcript and they actually changed my words! I sent back 50 pages of corrections to a 200 page document. A year later they dropped the suit. What a total waste of human effort and money. Gary > About 2 years ago I was able to get a little closer > to the patent > litigation process, > by way of giving a deposition in litigation that was > filed against Sun > and Apple > (and has been settled). > > Apparently, there's an entire sub-economy built on > patent litigation > among the > technology players. Suits, counter-suits, > counter-counter-suits, etc, > are just > part of every day business. And the money that gets > poured down the drain! > > Here's an example. During my deposition, the lawyer > questioning me opened > a large box, and removed 3 sets of a 500+ slide deck > created by myself and > Richard McDougall for seminars and tutorials on > Solaris. Each set was > color print on heavy, glossy paper. That represented > color printing of about > 1600 pages total. All so the attorney could question > me about 2 of the > slides. > > I almost fell off my chair.... > > /jim > > > > Rob Windsor wrote: > > > http://news.com.com/NetApp+files+patent+suit+against+S > un/2100-1014_3-6206194.html > > > > I'm curious how many of those patent filings cover > technologies that > > they carried over from Auspex. > > > > While it is legal for them to do so, it is a bit > shady to inherit > > technology (two paths; employees departing Auspex > and the Auspex > > bankruptcy asset buyout), file patents against that > technology, and then > > open suits against other companies based on > (patents covering) that > > technology. > > > > (No, I'm not defending Sun in it's apparent > patent-growling, either, it > > all sucks IMO.) > > > > Rob++ > > > _______________________________________________ > zfs-discuss mailing list > zfs-discuss@opensolaris.org > http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/zfs-discu > ss This message posted from opensolaris.org _______________________________________________ zfs-discuss mailing list zfs-discuss@opensolaris.org http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/zfs-discuss
