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Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2007 01:49:36 -0400
From: Theodore Tso <tytso@mit.edu>
To: Valdis.Kletnieks@vt.edu
Cc: Adrian Bunk <bunk@stusta.de>, Daniel Hazelton <dhazelton@enter.net>,
       Alexandre Oliva <aoliva@redhat.com>,
       Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>,
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       Tarkan Erimer <tarkan@netone.net.tr>, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
       Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>, mingo@elte.hu
Subject: Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3
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On Thu, Jun 14, 2007 at 12:00:17AM -0400, Valdis.Kletnieks@vt.edu wrote:
> Incidentally, this same logic is what drives the average successful patent
> troll lawsuit - the sued company will buy a license for $25K, just because
> they know that fighting the lawsuit will cost $100K and up.

You're off by a factor of 10-50.  The usual estimates I've heard from
people who ought to know is the minimum ante for fighting a patent
lawsuit is $1 million to $5 million.  Lawyer time and expert witness
time to give the judge a granduate education in the technologies
involved is *expensive* (since the judge may be really smart, but most
judges have no engineering background to speak of, so you have to
explain the technologies involved in terms that make sense to someone
with an honors education with a Bachelor of Arts degree).

Basically, in the US, you get the best justice money can buy.  :-)

							- Ted

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