Engineers rule China, lawyers rule the United States.

In the United States, lawyers are among the best people. They work in luxury firms and are the worst middle-class. They live in high-end community single-family houses with swimming pools and back gardens. They have paid vacations and travel abroad every year. If you want to make progress, you can become a politician or even a president. If you don’t want to be too tired, you can also find a company to be a leisure legal counsel.

Most companies cannot afford independent legal counsel, so they have to entrust legal affairs to law firms. As for those companies that are reluctant to hire lawyers, they have long been eliminated by American society. You can have no guns, but you can't have no lawyers. Most of the time your tongue is a weapon that is sharper than a sword.

Liuer Software's legal affairs were outsourced to a famous Seattle law firm. With the incentive of high lawyer fees every year, any employer's problems can be handled most effectively.

Zhou Shuo stepped on the thick carpet and made almost no sound. He was surrounded by transparent glass curtain walls, and the lattices were filled with white-collar workers wearing suits and tie. Under the curious eyes of the surroundings, he welcomed the lawyer hired by Liuer Software Company in the firm.

"Mr. Joey, I am your attorney, Jane Bingwen." Jane Bingwen looks very smart and capable, but she is also very plump in shape. But in every move, she likes to act like a little daughter, which makes Zhou Shuo feel indescribable.

"Hello, Ms. Bingwen. Is the representative of Netscape Company already here?" Zhou Shuo shook hands with her in a business manner and asked immediately.

"It's already in the conference room. Their ceo Mr. Anderson." Jane Bingwen said resolutely and leading the way in front.

"Mark Anderson?" Zhou Shuo asked in surprise.

Jane Bingwen nodded and said, "If he hadn't lie, it's this name."

"Ms. Bingwen, if you evaluate it based on your professional ability, what is the winning rate between us and Netscape Company and Bogongtang?" Zhou Shuoyou walked in front and asked while walking.

"Ninety percent, but punitive damages are not necessarily judged. Because there are more and more software patents registered every year, the patent court will reduce the compensation at its discretion without knowing the patent infringement. If Netscape has evidence to prove that they did not know that you applied for a patent before designing Netscape communication software, the penalty might not be too high."

This is also a strange thing about US patent law. Because software itself cannot apply for patents, but only has copyright. Therefore, many American companies can only register mathematical algorithms in a certain field as a patent. This patent registration method greatly encourages the registration of software patents, so that software companies always tend to register all algorithm application methods.

As more and more patents of this kind of algorithm, it becomes more and more difficult for programmers to avoid it. If a software wants to completely avoid patent infringement, it must traverse all algorithm patents to confirm that it has not infringed. But there are too many software patents in the United States. If every software does this kind of inspection, the cost is too high...

Therefore, as long as the software algorithm patent in the United States is not intentional infringement, even if the lawsuit is lost, there will be relatively little compensation.

"There are such terms?" Yu Qiong asked in amazement beside Zhou Shuo.

Jane Bingwen nodded and spread her hands and said, "If it weren't for this, no software in the United States would be able to write it."

The three of them walked to the end of a corridor, Jane Bingwen pointed to a door and said, "It's here. This conference room is. Mr. Anderson asked not to have a lawyer present for the first time when he met. Of course I'm waiting outside. If you need it, I can provide legal help at any time. OK?"

"Ok." Zhou Shuo nodded and pushed open the door of the conference room.

A middle-aged man was standing by the long window and looking at the scenery outside the building. Hearing the sound of the door opening, he turned around. Zhou Shuo and him looked at each other for a second before they got together.

Zhou Shuo stretched out his hand and said with a smile: "Hello, Mr. Mark Anderson."

Mark Anderson and Zhou Shuo reached out to hold each other and laughed: "You must be Zhou, I have heard of Daming for a long time."

Zhou Shuo let go of his hand and pointed to Yu Qiong beside him and introduced: "You can call me Joey, this is Jones, the general manager of Liuer Software Company."

"Hello, Ms. Jones." Mark Anderson stretched out his hand to Joan.

Yu Qiong looked at his hands, but had no intention of shaking hands, and said bluntly: "If Mr. Anderson can stop infringing on Liuerim, I will be better."

Of course, this is not that Yu Qiong has no business style, but the negotiation strategy agreed upon by her and Zhou Shuo. Simply put, one is a sing-black role and the other is a sing-black role. As the actual master of Liuer Software Company, Zhou Shuo is not suitable for the front line. As the general manager, Yu Qiong has enough weight in his identity, but has the advantage of a woman. Of course, it is better to sing-black role.

Mark Anderson spread his hands, not being angry with Yu Qiong. He said with a smile on his lips: "Obviously, we understand the concept of infringement in a different way."

Yu Qiong looked at Mark Anderson with a frigid look, and said in a stern tone: "The Netscape Communication Software released by your company has clearly infringed at least 30 patents from Liuer Software Company, including design patents, appearance patents, and even invention patents."

Mark Anderson raised his eyebrows and said with a giggle: "You know, there are often repetitions in the United States for the granting of software patents."

Yu Qiong immediately retorted: "What about appearance patents? There are invention patents. There are no cases of the granting of these patents in the United States."

"This..." Mark Anderson said with a pursed speech, "Yes, Netscape has indeed infringed on Liuerim's patent. Of course, I will only say this sentence when the lawyer is not present. And this is why I am willing to come to see you. We all have what each other needs, so it is a good idea to sit down and talk."

Zhou Shuo reached out to stop Yu Qiong, nodded and sat down and said, "Okay, I hope we can get an ideal result."

Mark Anderson sat opposite Zhou Shuo, holding his head up and said, "Netjing Company can authorize Liuer Software Company to use our browser technology, but the technology used by Netjing Communication must also be authorized by your patent."

After saying that, he said as if he suddenly remembered it, "Oh, by the way. We want the css technology used by Liu'er browser, too."

Zhou Shuo nodded expressionlessly and said, "Patent cross-authorization."

Mark Anderson snapped his fingers and smiled, "Yes, this is fair, isn't it? Who can win the market? Everyone depends on their abilities."

Zhou Shuo's face turned dark and he said in a deep voice: "Mr. Anderson thinks it is fair to exchange our Liuer Im and browser patent for a software patent for Netscape browser?"

"Don't forget, I have the final say in the browser market. If you don't agree, Liu'er browser will definitely not open the market. But--" Mark Anderson stared at Zhou Shuo's eyes, lowered his voice, and said fiercely: "If you want to prevent Netscape from entering the instant messaging market, you can give it a try."

Yu Qiong stood aside, snorted coldly and continued, "Even if Netscape Company pays a large punitive fine for this?"

"Wow, it's also possible that when you got that money, Liuer Software had been insolvent for a long time." Mark Anderson said with a sneer.

His words are by no means alarmist. The trial of software patent cases in the United States can be said to be very strange. Due to the professionalism of patent cases, many state and county courts are not able to hear them. Therefore, under the U.S. Supreme Court, there is a special intellectual property trial court responsible for the trial of cases across the country, but the scam is that this is a circuit court.

In other words, not only do you have to queue, but also have to wait for a long time. Even if it is your turn, the trial will not be too long. It is basically common for a lawsuit to be fought for five or ten years. In history, Netscape Company's browser defeated by Microsoft and was acquired by American Online in 1998.

However, the lawsuit against Microsoft was fought until 2003, and finally only received $750 million in settlement fees. After receiving compensation, it was immediately disbanded by American Online...

Mark Anderson is not as pure as white paper. He just has more resources than Microsoft, so he failed. And if he stood at Microsoft, he would never mind using this method to eliminate competitors who were weaker than him. Which businessman who could succeed in the market had a clean hand?

Zhou Shuo's face was as deep as water, and stood up and said, "There is an old saying in China, "You want to fight, I will fight."

"That means, our reconciliation failed this time?" Mark Anderson slowly stood up and asked with great momentum.

Zhou Shuo nodded and replied fearlessly: "It was the war you started."

Mark Anderson shook his finger and smiled, "This is not a war."

Zhou Shuo took a deep breath, looked at him coldly, turned around and left. He and Yu Qiong came out of the law firm, and a cold wind blew across the streets of Seattle, slightly calming the trace of anger in his chest.

"What should we do next?" Yu Qiong asked with a cold face and followed Zhou Shuo.

"Let's show you the Internet's attractions so that he can know what war is not up to him."

Zhou Shuo clenched his fists tightly and looked at the conference room on the rooftop.
Chapter completed!