America 1982

Benjamin Rosen looked at Tommy who appeared in front of him again: "It seems like you have seen that kind of business?"

"To make a long story short, Mr. Benjamin, I don't have time to talk to you about the disgusting things I saw in Quincy. I need 10 million now. Lotus has replaced their vice president in charge of daily operations. I think the new guy is still here." He didn’t have a clear idea, so now is the best time to pick up the bat and hit him on the head a few times.” Tommy said straight to the point without greeting the other person.

Benjamin looked at Tommy, who was moving faster than before: "But I just made an appointment with Mr. Cohen, who is in charge of IBM's personal computer business, to talk in two days. According to what you said..."

"IBM will agree." Tommy took a deep breath and gave Benjamin a positive answer.

Benjamin smiled and nodded: "Okay, Tommy, I'll let the secretary make arrangements. Do you want me to buy 15% of your shares personally or in the name of Compaq, or do you just want it to be an investment?"

"I hope it's a donation, I hope our deal is a gift." Tommy leaned slightly forward in the direction of Benjamin and emphasized: "A gift of goodwill."

Benjamin sighed: “But I don’t want gifts.”

"I previously registered a non-profit computer industry advocacy organization called the Electronic Future Foundation. I hope you will donate 10 million to it. As a thank you for your support, I will transfer 15% of Actor's shares to you for free. , and you will be personally invited to serve as the first executive director of this organization." Tommy glanced at the steward in the distance, lowered his voice slightly, and said to Benjamin.

Benjamin contracted his pupils slightly, and after a few seconds of silence, he stared into Tommy's eyes and slowly said, "I guess you don't just want to avoid taxes."

"I, Jason White, and Susan Curtis quietly initiated the establishment not long ago. Ms. Delia Keys serves as the legal director of this organization, aiming to promote the prosperity and healthy development of the computer industry." Tommy said seriously said.

Hearing his words, Benjamin laughed: "You are the sponsor and I am the donor, but what our two companies do is definitely not conscientious for the computer industry. You copied Lotus, and I copied IBM."

"The Electronic Future Foundation, or EFF for short, was established to help small and medium-sized companies in the computer industry, such as providing financial support during research and development, providing relevant support to member companies that encounter court defense issues, representing their cases, or Act as an amicus curiae to protect computer industry developers and technologies from various legal threats, resist patent abuse in the computer industry, etc., and prevent poor small studios and small companies in the industry from suffering patent extortion like Actor Company. It may protect the creative freedom of practitioners." Tommy ignored Benjamin's ridicule and self-deprecation, and still talked about the original intention of establishing this organization with a serious face. After finishing speaking, he asked Benjamin Rosen, whose smile gradually disappeared:

"After listening, do you feel my conscience? Mr. Rosen?"

"Does it have members?" Benjamin asked Tommy after looking at each other for a moment.

Tommy answered his question very quickly, almost without thinking: "Currently, there are twenty-seven individual members, most of whom are founders of small companies that were sued by Lotus and forced to close down. There are also a few corporate members, all of whom are It’s a small start-up company started in a garage by Stanford students.”

"It sounds a bit like the Computer and Communications Industry Association, but the difference is that one sets high thresholds to select members, while yours is prepared to absorb them first and then slowly select them." Benjamin gave an example and gave the explanation after listening. My own opinion afterwards.

The Computer and Communications Industry Association is an organization initiated by several computer and communications industry giants. Its members are only seven or eight large companies in the industry such as Microsoft, IBM, AT\u0026amp;T, Motorola, and Intel. Other companies are not eligible to be invited to join. Several major companies Although they compete with each other, there is also a lot of cooperation accomplished through this organization. For example, although IBM was stabbed in the back by Microsoft, when IBM encountered an antitrust lawsuit, Microsoft and other companies donated money to this organization and hired lobbying companies in the name of the association to help. IBM, and several major companies all support IBM as amicus curiae and so on.

"No, it's more like the back garden of those big companies. It uses slogans dedicated to patent reform to attract small companies to join. At the same time, Actor Company will shape the public image of Lotus as a patent troll, and then help big companies in the computer industry provide worthwhile The list of small companies to invest in, EFF is a peripheral auxiliary organization of the Computer and Communications Industry Association, which does not conflict with EFF, and its existence can also allow the association to declare to the outside world that they do not control this industry." Tommy told Benjamin.

Benjamin nodded and said slowly: "Everyone has misjudged you, including me. Everyone thinks you are greedy, but in fact you are doing a good thing. For those small companies, although they need to donate EFF members, There are obscure conditions such as preferential investment rights, but at least you are willing to help newcomers in this industry, and those big companies are also happy to join. EFF provides this preferential investment right, and selects packages worthy of investment based on your company's future plans. Companies, in short, small companies think that they are in a fair and open industry environment, while large companies have successfully used EFF to select support targets. Both parties have completed patent sharing and the construction of an industry ecosystem within this organization. On the contrary, those who did not join will end up being eliminated. Regarding it, any other computer practitioner who creates it may make those young people and the outside world suspicious. Only your creation is the most suitable, because your experience with the Actor makes people believe that you have experienced pain before doing this. But now I know clearly that you were preparing to set up this organization first, and then you chose the poor Lotus company."

"If you want to compliment me, you can tell me slowly later on when you have free time, sir." Tommy looked directly into Benjamin's eyes and said.

Benjamin said to Tommy: "You can go, the money will speed up behind you. You are right, IBM will agree to cooperate. How can a big company refuse to support the entire industry? Is there any reason to deceive the government?" Monopoly, keep the temptation fair and open.”

"Goodbye, by the way, let me borrow the phone." Tommy got the answer to the conversation and stood up quickly.

He dialed the phone: "Delia, keep an eye on the bank account. When the funds appear, start work in the name of EFF. Prepare to have one hundred and seventy-six lawyers in place. I want to get newspapers and television in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Boston. News about this case appears on the Internet, I want news interviews, I want newspaper pages, Tommy Hawke, the founder of Actor, needs to start listening to his mother and do the right thing."

"The first thing I want to tell ordinary people is that in order to let low-educated people learn computers to increase their income, Actor has encountered terrible resistance. They actually went out of their way to replace the incompetent vice president and find a member of the powerful Kennedy family. Come and stop me, normal people love this kind of confrontation story.”

…

When there are no customers, photographer Pete O'Brien spends most of his time sitting in his small photo studio in Boston's South End watching TV to kill time.

When the wind chimes rang, he stood up and approached with a smile: "Sir, do you need to take a photo?"

"Mr. O'Brien, nice to meet you." The other person was wearing an Armani suit and had oily hair. He shook hands with the confused Pete with a big smile: "I am Eugene Brown from the New York Center for Creative Photography."

Peter was stunned for a moment: "Sir, where did you say you are from?"

"New York Center for Creative Photography, NCCP." The other party repeated it again.

Pete blurted out in surprise: "Wow, that's a sacred place for American photographers."

"Yes, all photographers want their works to be collected by the NCCP. This is why I am here. Congratulations, Mr. Peter O'Brien." The other party said as he looked at the environment of the photo studio.

Peter's whole body seemed to be struck by lightning. He was stunned for a long time before he recovered from the news: "But I'm just an ordinary photographer. I mean, I never sent it to you..."

"By chance, one of your female portraits was discovered by the center's well-known photographer, Ms. Rosalind Solomon, and was praised by her. She hopes that NCCP can permanently collect your work that shows the strength and unyielding nature of women. art work, so I appear here." Eugene said with a smile: "After the contract is signed, we will pay you a fee, totaling about fifteen thousand yuan, to buy out the copyright of that photo .”

Pete felt that all this was like a dream. Rosalind Solomon, a well-known female photographer, once shot a series of portrait photography works "Beyond the White House" during the administration of President Kennedy.

Anyone who is an American photographer may have seen her portrait works and hoped to learn some portrait shooting skills. But now, this female photography master actually likes her own works? And recommended it to NCCP?

For a photo, the other party is willing to pay me fifteen thousand yuan?

"Do you have time to go to New York recently? I mean your schedule in the recent period, because you need to sign a contract, and Ms. Solomon also wants to talk to you about photography in person." The man who called himself Eugene asked.

Pete felt that his legs were a little shaky, and he nodded vigorously: "Of course there is time, I can temporarily suspend business, I... Oh, by the way, I was selected to be a jury member in a lawsuit, and serving as a jury is mandatory. , I can't refuse, but I...I think if Ms. Rosalind Solomon is willing to see me, I can apply to the court to request that a replacement juror take my place."

"Is it the lawsuit filed by the software company against plagiarists?" Eugene turned his head and asked, staring into Pete's eyes.

Pete nodded: "Yes, have you heard of it?"

"Of course, NCCP uses Lotus software and is no stranger to this company, so which party selected you as a juror? The plaintiff, the defendant, or the court?" Eugene asked as if making small talk.

Pete shrugged: "I seem to have been selected by the defendant's legal team from the jury pool."

"Then you'd better not talk about it when you meet Ms. Solomon. She hates plagiarists because she has experienced plagiarism in her work. Although I know you won't cast a verdict casually, I guess if she knows your personal inclination towards If the plagiarist maintains a sympathetic stance, I'm afraid she won't want to see you too much." Eugene said with a smile, as if he was kindly reminding Peter that he needed to pay attention to some minor issues in the meeting.

But Peter was not stupid to the point of exaggeration. He seemed to understand something from Eugene's eyes, and slowly asked:

"I seemed to understand. I became a juror, and then my photography was appreciated and wanted to be collected permanently."

"Sounds like a coincidence. I hope it won't delay the court decision." Eugene nodded, but did not admit it and just called it a coincidence.

Peter continued: "But I assume the formal signing of the contract, and the meeting with Ms. Solomon, will take place after the trial?"

"Yes, in terms of time, it will be after the trial is over. After all, there are many contract terms to be drawn up. And although Ms. Solomon has decided to collect it now, there may be some changes in the middle, such as Ms. Solomon discovering a better work. After all, We have limited funds and can only strive for excellence." Eugene was very satisfied that the photographer in front of him understood what he said.

Pete continued: "I sympathize with the plagiarist and maybe it will make Ms. Solomon change her mind."

"That's your own random imagination. Trust me, we decided to collect your works mainly because your works are good enough." Eugene extended his hand to Peter and said goodbye with a smile: "I'm just here to inform you that your works will be collected by NCCP. News, I hope you can arrange the time, we will contact you at any time later, goodbye, Mr. O'Brien."

"I won't sympathize with plagiarists, I won't..." After thinking clearly, Pete said repeatedly.

Eugene walked out the door without responding to Peter's words behind him. When he walked out of the photo studio, Eugene got into a black business car: "Inform Mr. Kennedy that the other side's selected juror has settled another one."

Second update~ Sorry, it's a little late~ The child has a little problem, which delayed some time.