The fraud claim seems especially weak because they haven't shown that TC lost any money due to FG's actions. Fraud isn't just lying, and lying is not usually illegal.
And maybe he did give them some ideas, but thats irrelevant unless he had an agreement or owned a patent. Its perfectly legal to use unpatented ideas from other people who give them to you freely under no formal agreement.
Arrington seems like he wanted to be the big dog here who would make FG's dreams come true with just a smile. I am sure if FG hadn't gotten sick of him he'd be claiming he invented it. Hell, hed prolly pull a Jobs and put his name first on the patent.
Not to mention that perfectly obvious "ideas" have no value. All Arrington did was say "somebody should make a tablet, and it will have a web browser, and be cheap!". That's not really a valuable idea.
If I say "Somebody should make a bicycle, but it can fly!", does that mean my idea for a flying bicycle has value? If somebody really does create a flying bicycle, do I get paid even though I didn't do anything to make my "idea" into an actual product? Of course not. Just vocalizing the possibility of a product is not "inventing". If that were the case, then science fiction writers would be billionaires.
@Chip Indeed. I looked over the complaint, they seem to think suggesting the device have a quick boot time is some invaluable contribution.
I've seen this in my scientific work too. Some people think showing you how to use a piece of equipment or teaching you a common technique is grounds for authorship.
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The fraud claim seems especially weak because they haven't shown that TC lost any money due to FG's actions. Fraud isn't just lying, and lying is not usually illegal.
And maybe he did give them some ideas, but thats irrelevant unless he had an agreement or owned a patent. Its perfectly legal to use unpatented ideas from other people who give them to you freely under no formal agreement.
Arrington seems like he wanted to be the big dog here who would make FG's dreams come true with just a smile. I am sure if FG hadn't gotten sick of him he'd be claiming he invented it. Hell, hed prolly pull a Jobs and put his name first on the patent.
@brillow
Not to mention that perfectly obvious "ideas" have no value. All Arrington did was say "somebody should make a tablet, and it will have a web browser, and be cheap!". That's not really a valuable idea.
If I say "Somebody should make a bicycle, but it can fly!", does that mean my idea for a flying bicycle has value? If somebody really does create a flying bicycle, do I get paid even though I didn't do anything to make my "idea" into an actual product? Of course not. Just vocalizing the possibility of a product is not "inventing". If that were the case, then science fiction writers would be billionaires.
@Chip Indeed. I looked over the complaint, they seem to think suggesting the device have a quick boot time is some invaluable contribution.
I've seen this in my scientific work too. Some people think showing you how to use a piece of equipment or teaching you a common technique is grounds for authorship.