sundance-communications.com/forum Forums General Telecom News New book claims Bell stole key telephone idea

^^^
:toothy:

Isn't this one of eight million stories like:

1. Oreo clearly stealing the cookie design from Hydrox (followed by a marketing campaign that attacked the "chemical" name of Hydrox.

2. Betamax beaten by out by a clearly inferior VHS product (it's all about who you grease, and who gets behind you.)

3a. Bill Gates' DOS--clearly stealing code from Gary Kildall's CP/M...the final straw in putting Digital Equipment out of business. Mr. Kildall also invented the first computer with a BIOS, an idea that was later incorporated into IBM machines without proper credit.

3b. Bill Gates' Windows--clearly stealing the "look and feel" of the Apple and Xerox GUI interface.

3c. Bill Gates' defrag--clearly stealing raw code from Peter Norton (OK...enough about evil Bill. He's a philanthropist, now that he can afford to be.)

4. Thomas Edison, who clearly stole a large number of "his" ideas from fellow inventors (and then used corrupt friends and muscle to clear a path for himself). In particular, read up on Edison's theft, duplication and profitable exibition of Georges Méliès "A Trip To The Moon" (1903). Georges Méliès never saw a cent from these exibitions.

5. How about all the companies that have "borrowed" the [stereotypically dyslexic] letter R from Toys R Us? Tools R Us, Closets R Us, Phones R Us, etc. Did you know that there is even a "Stumps R Us" amputee website? I'm not kidding! See https://www.stumps.org/.

6. Bill Watterston gave up writing the comic strip "Calvin and Hobbes" because of all the illegitimate merchandise that flourished in a buying market that didn't care. Mr. Watterston couldn't hold a candle to the hundreds of lawyers that sat between him and the clan that created window sticker versions of Calvin urinating on a Ford or Chevy logo (among many other unauthorized expressions of his work). Life was too short, so Bill quit the fight.

Boy could I go on.... And PLEASE don't get me started about what Cisco Systems has stolen from lesser funded companies. I'm not an anti-compete guy; I just feel that you can still make it to the top without that kind of morality.

[Edited to soften my knee-jerk anger]