Decoder with Nilay Patel

What Apple’s OpenAI lawsuit is really about

Apple may have redefined patent law around 3G and 4G licensing, but fundamentally, it did not actually succeed in stopping its competitors with intellectual property lawsuits. So, you go from copyright to patent and now trade secrets, which is the third big intellectual property, and Apple's doing it again with OpenAI. My big question is whether OpenAI can just pay the money the way that Microsoft and Samsung were able to just pay the money.

Decoder with Nilay Patel

What Apple’s OpenAI lawsuit is really about

It's just a pattern, maybe not worth diving into at great length, but in the '90s, Apple pushed copyright law to the limit. They sued Microsoft for allegedly infringing on how the Mac looked and felt with Windows. I will point out that Windows still exists, Microsoft is fine. And then in the 2000s and early 2010s, Apple pushed patent law to the limit, suing Samsung for allegedly violating a bunch of patents with Android and Galaxy phones because Apple felt that they had protected the iPhone. Samsung eventually paid about $1 billion in damages and those cases just went around in circles forever. But I'll point out that Android still exists, Samsung is doing just fine.

Compound Interest

Who Wants To Own Big Law?

Litigation finance is simply treating litigation claims as financial assets. You know, when you think about what litigation is, stepping back, it's just an effort for the most part to get money to move from one party to another.