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I find Shaw's response to be asinine.

I'd say juvenile would be a more appropriate word.

Given Google's recent behaviour with the Nortel auction (bidding pi etc), which could also be seen as a bit childish, perhaps this is Microsoft simply responding in kind. It is bizarre though.

Agreed, and I'd include the whole lot as guilty of immaturity. Google basically gets nailed by a patent holder, and they complain because the patent holder filed a claim against them? And they call them out for "extortion"?

I guess I can go violate someone else's patents, then when they complain, I can say they are extortionist.

And here I thought these companies were supposed to be full of smart people.

Both companies are full of super-smart people, but they're too busy building cool things. This kind of stuff is what happens when you let the MBA's take over.

>(bidding pi etc), which could also be seen as a bit childish

I thought that was harmless & hilarious. Extorting money is neither. Court cases like this are a solid step backwards for the entire tech industry.

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