Computer Ethics, Fall 2021

Mondays 5:30-8:00, Dumbach 6
Class 12: Nov 29, 2021

Class 12 Readings

Finish reading the Chapter 4 material on patents
Read chapter 5 on crime



Innovatio Wi-Fi patents

This is the group that sued a large number of hotels and coffeeshops for using Wi-Fi access points, for around $3,000 each.

The usual theory was that the manufacturers of the access points had paid the patent fee. But that the customers would have to spend much more than $3,000 to get that recognized.

However, in the end Innovatio settled for much, much less. They were sued by Cisco, and while the original RICO lawsuit was thrown out, Cisco got the per-device licensing fee reduced to around 3 cents. The judge originally ruled that the FRAND licensing fee was 9.56 cents per device, but the settlement reached a lower value (probably because part (if not all) of the licensing fee had been paid.




Debates

Paper 3

Antitrust

Crime