Volume 3: My days in a college fraternity Chapter 144 Fatty Meat on the Table
When the United States Federal First Circuit Court once again ruled in favor of Lotus, Robert Morley became more and more anxious. Lotus seemed to be sliding into the abyss step by step without realizing it.
The attention to this lawsuit is increasing because all users of OSS are invisibly tied into it and they are more concerned about the final outcome of this lawsuit than ordinary people.
Although Jim Manz left Lotus, he as a lawyer was not completely replaced by the newly appointed Byron Kennedy. Of course, he is no longer the chief lawyer. Byron Kennedy hired a white shoe lawyer from Sidley Austin LLP, a person who is qualified to be Robert's teacher, to take over this case. Robert is now just a member of the team and is responsible for some auxiliary work.
The elegant Byron Kennedy walked briskly to the door of Robert's office, knocked on the door gently, and asked him affectionately: "Robert, do you have time?"
"Of course." Robert was curious why the other party came to see him. Since Jim resigned, Lotus has always called him to contact him. This is the first time that the new vice president has come to visit in person.
He stood up and poured a glass of water for the other person. Then he looked at the man with the Kennedy family's iconic nose with a puzzled look in his eyes: "So, Mr. Kennedy, how did you find the time to come here? If you have any work arrangements, you can just ask someone else to call me and let me know."
"The other party has appealed to the Supreme Court, and their counterclaim has also been transferred to the Supreme Court. What do you think about this issue?" Byron Kennedy sat on the sofa opposite Robert, gently moving his cervical vertebrae, and asked Robert as if he was chatting.
Robert had a puzzled look on his face. It was useless to ask his opinion now. The whole world knew that Lotus was being held tightly, but the two founders of the company and the Kennedy family guy in front of him could not see clearly. Byron Kennedy was still stepping up efforts to lobby politicians to help Lotus intervene in the lawsuit as a friend of the court.
"Well, the Supreme Court now requires the parties involved and the friends of the court who are paying attention to this lawsuit to submit documents and answer several questions before the final pre-trial conference. Congress also seems to be considering scheduling a hearing. The situation is very unfavorable to Lotus."
These words are not alarmist. The judges of the Supreme Court directly raised four questions and asked the parties and the friends of the court to answer them before the pre-trial conference, so as to reach some consensus agreement on the same views during the pre-trial conference.
The first question is how to view non-profit infringement and Section 506 of the United States Copyright Act of 1976. The second question is whether the software interface is a protected patent or a user habit. The third question is whether the hundreds of thousands of users who succumbed to Actor's free temptation and used and learned OSS software are suspected of participating in infringement and causing the influence of the infringement to expand, causing more losses to Lotus. The fourth question is the standard definition of computer software patents and copyrights.
The friends of the court on Lotus' side are all politicians or public officials. You can already know their answers with your ass, and they are of no professional reference to the court.
But with Actor losing the case, in addition to the 176 non-profit organizations, there is now an organization called EFF that intervenes as a friend of the court. At the same time, software companies such as IBM, Compaq, Microsoft, MicroPort, and Biolan have also intervened as amicus curiae. All of them are software industry practitioners. From a professional point of view, the judge will of course refer to the answers of these software practitioners.
The Supreme Court took these friends of the court very seriously , and even Congress set up a committee for this case. It is preparing to invite some software companies to attend the hearing as witnesses to hear their professional opinions on some doubts in this case. Now everyone involved realizes that they have come to an important moment, that is, the opening of the trial.
Except for the two nerds at Lotus who were still happy about winning the lawsuit twice.
What does this mean? It means that the other party has prepared everything. Several major software companies in this industry have already discussed and agreed to open their bloody mouths wide and tear apart Lotus, the industry leader in spreadsheet software. After biting it to death, everyone will sit down and discuss industry standards.
"This is what I'm going to talk to you about. I'll ask the company to put out another five million dollars for lobbying and public relations. You or Hale & Doll don't have any powerful people in this area who can do public relations. I can set aside part of this money to pay the lobbying firm recommended to you," Byron Kennedy said to Robert.
"Mr. Kennedy, do you really think we still have a chance of winning? I don't know what your chief lawyer promised you, but in my opinion, we have no chance of winning at all. Former Vice President Jim Manz has already realized this problem, so he chose to resign." Seeing that this guy was still not giving up and continued to spend money to prepare for public relations, Robert couldn't help but lower his voice and asked him:
"Can Lotus pay all those large software companies to support Lotus, let Lotus participate in their games, and choose to abandon Actor? Impossible."
"Jim Manz is a kind bastard, Robert. I think you are somewhat similar to him, but you obviously don't realize how the game is going to be played. Let me tell you, I knew long ago that Lotus had no chance, but that didn't stop me from being the vice president of this company. During this time, I made a fortune for my friends. Do you think I'm going to turn the tide? No, I'm just using Lotus 's money to maintain my own connections. My friends also knew that a long time ago, so they helped Lotus in the first two lawsuits." Seeing Robert reminding himself that he had no chance of winning, Byron Kennedy laughed:
"Losing the lawsuit does not conflict with our making money from it, right? Just like if we lose the lawsuit in the end, Lotus will still pay you. My friends are not grateful to Lotus, but they are grateful to me. Even after we lose the lawsuit, we should continue to let Lotus spend money to lobby for legislation. The reason why I keep you in the team is that I think I will become friends with you. Lawyers will become politicians sooner or later. I believe that in a dozen years, you will also consider becoming a congressman who speaks for the people."
Seeing the other person's smile, Robert couldn't help but think of what Jim Manz said to him when he said goodbye after he resigned: "Those two nerds will be emptied of their wallets and end up on the streets sooner or later."
Comparing Jim with Mr. Kennedy, Robert felt that Lotus has survived until now only because they hired Jim. As soon as Jim left, the entire company immediately turned from a software giant into the industry's fat meat. Obviously everyone knew that Actor was wrong, but they would stand on that side. After using Actor to bite Lotus to death, they announced that this behavior was wrong and we must legislate to improve it to prevent this from happening again. Even their own vice president was just trying to grab a piece of the fat.
"What else can I say? On behalf of my powerful friends, I want to thank you for your trust. They will do their best." Robert sighed, dispelled the occasional guilty conscience, and said to Byron Kennedy with a smile.
