The Trouble with Nathan Myhrvold’s Pro-Patent Arguments

From Wikipedia: "Myhrvold, usually with coinventors, holds 17 U.S. patents assigned to Microsoft[3] and has applied for more than 500 patents.[4] In addition, Myhrvold and coinventors hold 115 U.S. patents assigned mostly to The Invention Science Fund I, LLC"<p>Sounds like someone's got a lot to gain from the patent system staying the way it is.

1. Ad hominem 2. Begging the question 3. Unsubstantiated generalization 4. Mis-quote 5. Misunderstanding the original comment<p>I don't necessarily agree with Myhrvold, but I don't think this guy is giving him enough credit.<p>The problem Myhrvold gives is real: large companies with lots of resources can, if they choose to, steal your idea and try to compete. This problem comes up on HN periodically, and I think the canon is to simply have the better product. I would call this playing field more level than the one where entrepreneurial teams can't compete at all.

"If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants. From now on everyone standing on my shoulders must pay a hefty price." Myhrvold.

This is an incredibly lame piece. The best I can find to say for it is that he spelt Myhrvold's name right. Otherwise it is crummy rant. He couldn't even do research a 4th grader would find simple - look up his target in Wikipedia and take the trouble to read enough to find out that M is indeed smart so he doesn't have to take the word of others for it.<p>The first para in Wikipedia would give him a clue. "Myhrvold attended Mirman School,[6] and began college at age 14.[7] He studied mathematics, geophysics, and space physics at UCLA (BSc, Masters). He was awarded a Hertz Foundation Fellowship for graduate study and he chose to study at Princeton University, where he earned a master's degree in mathematical economics and completed a PhD in theoretical and mathematical physics by age 23. He also attended Santa Monica College. For one year, he held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Cambridge working under Stephen Hawking, studying cosmology, quantum field theory in curved space time and quantum theories of gravitation."<p>So if this is his level of research why on earth would anyone in their right minds who is not already a patent hater take this chump seriously?

Horrible article. This guy seems to have a personal chip on his shoulder:<p><i>I have a hunch he’s 1980s Microsoft-smart, which is to say he’s about as much fun to be with as a talking Wikipedia page, but hey, some people like that.</i><p>While Myhrvold has only done things like created the most prominent computer science research institution in the world, written what is now heralded as one of the finest cooking books ever written, co-authored a NY Times #1 best-seller, and was amongst the most highly regarded young physicists of his time -- among other things.<p>And this guy Kedrosky apparently does finance and apparently nothing of merit in or beyond that. As they say, those in glass houses should not drop huge boulders on their toes.