Russia Dismantles Steve Jobs Memorial, Fearing That Tim Cook's Homosexuality Might Be Contagious

Too Much Free Time

from the an-extra-dose-of-bigotry-for-good-measure dept

By now you’ve probably noticed that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his political compatriots aren’t particularly enlightened fellows, whether it’s their hypocrisy on surveillance or the country’s increasingly abysmal record when it comes to free speech. This narrow-mindedness was made even more painfully evident when in 2013 Putin and friends supported the passage of the country’s national “LGBT propaganda” law, designed to protect minors from the terrifying menace presented by “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships” while upholding “family values” through discrimination.

Since then, interpretation of what constitutes an erosion of said family values has been hysterically and disturbingly broad, and the law in some cases has been used to justify violent, vigilante behavior against the country’s LGBT community. Taking interpretation of that law to an entirely new level of ridiculousness, the Russian government this week dismantled a cell-phone-shaped Steve Jobs memorial constructed in 2013 by a coalition of companies in downtown St. Petersburg. Why? Apparently the government was concerned that passers by might contract homosexuality from a statue paying homage to one of the world’s most significant technology visionaries:

“In Russia, gay propaganda and other sexual perversions among minors are prohibited by law,” ZEFS said, noting the memorial had been “in an area of direct access for young students and scholars”. “After Apple CEO Tim Cook publicly called for sodomy, the monument was taken down to abide to the Russian federal law protecting children from information promoting denial of traditional family values.”

Of course Cook also said nothing of the sort in his recent Bloomberg piece, only stating he’s “proud to be gay” and that the struggles he’s faced over the course of his lifetime have made him both tougher and more empathetic. That’s a message apparently missed by St. Petersburg City Councilman Vitaly Milonov, who not-so-gracefully stated he’d like to see the CEO of one of the world’s most successful technology companies banned from entering the country:

“Shortly after Cook?s announcement, conservative St. Petersburg City Councilman Vitaly Milonov called for Cook to be banned from entering the country because of his sexual orientation. “What could he bring us? The Ebola virus, AIDS, gonorrhea?” Milonov said during an interview with the website FlashNord.”

As it stands, Milonov might want to be less concerned with students catching homosexuality from slabs of steel and concrete, and a little more concerned with them catching a severe and incurable case of the stupid.

Update: A story by RT seems to rather vaguely suggest the whole thing was a hoax, though at least one St. Petersburg local in the story’s comment section disputes the RT story’s take.

Filed Under: lgbt, russia, tim cook
Companies: apple

Apple CEO: When Others Violate Our Patents, They're Copying Our Hard Work; When We Violate Patents, The System Is Broken

Patents

from the double-standards dept

Apple has certainly been quite the aggressor over the last few years when it comes to patents, so it’s interesting to hear that, at the latest All Things D Conference, CEO Tim Cook appears to have a bit of a double standard. You see, when others infringe upon Apple’s patents, he insists that they’re somehow copying all of Apple’s hard work, and that’s unfair. Cook uses a ridiculous plagiarism analogy:

He compared patent infringement to signing one’s name on a painting that someone else put energy into finishing. Cook stressed the importance of companies building their own stuff so that Apple would not be “the developer for the rest of the world.”

Kinda like, you know, how Apple “signed its name” to the graphical user interface developed at Xerox PARC? Or the mouse developed at SRI? Or multitouch browsing, developed by a bunch of other folks prior to the iPhone? Sure, Apple improved on all of these things, and many other things as well, but Apple is famous for taking the developments done elsewhere and merely putting a nice final consumer-friendly coat of paint on it. No doubt, this is an important step, but it’s ridiculous to pretend that Apple has come up with the various ideas it has and no one else could have possibly developed the same things. And, of course, plagiarism (claiming credit for something you didn’t do) is an entirely separate issue from infringement (using an invention/creative work without authorization). So it seems silly to even use that analogy.

Of course, then Walt Mossberg brings up the fact that Apple is, in fact, the target of many patent lawsuits as well… and suddenly Cook’s tone changes, insisting that those cases are different:

“The vast majority of those are on standards-essential patents,” he said, adding that it’s an area where today’s patent system is “broken.”

Now, to some extent he’s correct that patent battles over “standards-essential” patents are particularly nefarious, but it still seems like quite the double standard to insist that the patents that Apple has asserted against various makers of Android tablets and smartphones aren’t equally silly and destructive to basic market competition. Apple makes great products that people love. If only it would let those products compete fairly in the market, it could save money on the bruising legal fights it’s involved in around the globe. Cook admitted that patent battles are “overhead” and he wished the fights weren’t so costly. Of course, that would be a lot more convincing if the company hadn’t launched so many patent battles itself.

Filed Under: all things d, gui, multitouch, plagiarism, tim cook
Companies: apple

Apple & Samsung's Patent Nuclear War: 50 Lawsuits In 10 Countries In 1 Year

Patents

from the wasted-money dept

Of all the big patent fights going on these days over mobile phones/tablets, the highest profile has almost certainly been the battle between Apple and Samsung. But, in case you haven’t been paying attention to all the lawsuits flying back and forth, in the past year it appears that there have been at least 50 lawsuits filed in ten countries around the world — in just over a year. And to think, all of that money could have been spent on actually innovating. What a waste. Apple’s Tim Cook is apparently claiming that he’d prefer to settle — and the two sides are getting together in a few weeks to see what they can work out — but also said:

“But it’s important that Apple not become the developer for the world. We need people to invent their own stuff.”

That’s nice… but it ignores the fact that nearly every cool thing in the iPhone wasn’t invented by Apple. Instead, Apple just did a nice job putting it together and bringing it to the market in a shiny package. We shouldn’t deny how important that step is — it’s really much more important than most people are willing to admit. But, it’s a shame that Cook would then go around repeating the myth that Apple “invented” the features that made the iPhone and iPad so popular. To complain that others need to “invent their own stuff” ignores how little of its own “stuff” Apple actually “invented.”

Filed Under: innovation, patent war, tim cook
Companies: apple, samsung