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Comment by jarrett | Hacker News Reader

> On the other hand, it always, locally, makes sense not to challenge claims and let some other small company deal with it.

I would argue in favor of fighting back in most cases, even from a local standpoint. "Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute." How you behave towards bullies sends a powerful signal to other bullies. Your response can either encourage more bullying, and thus a cycle that ends in your own destruction, or ward them all off.

I very much agree with your comments overall, though.

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Kipling put it well:

    It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,  
      For fear they should succumb and go astray;  
    So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,  
      You will find it better policy to say: --

    "We never pay any-one Dane-geld,  
      No matter how trifling the cost;  
    For the end of that game is oppression and shame,  
      And the nation that pays it is lost!"

Awesome!, thank you.

welcome. leslie fish has a great musical setting of the poem on her "cold iron" album (highly recommended if you're a kipling fan at all). this one's not up on youtube, sadly, but http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gYvS8L0nDY is her (also great) setting of "rimini" from "puck of pook's hill", which should give you some idea of her style.

This is an ideal time to bring up the Mongols. Anyone in Eastern Europe that paid the Mongol tax still exists. The inverse can be said for those that didn't pay, or decided to fight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction_under_the_Mongol_Em...

I respect Kipling's quote - but history shows YMMV. If in doubt, just ask why you don't hear of the Khwarezmid Empire - who were one of the biggest empires around at the time of the Mongols.

fascinating. a definite counterargument to the kipling quote.

It's an excellent example of the prisoner's dilemma. We are all better off if we all cooperate, but any one of us is better off if we defect.

When you start to iterate it, the equation changes. But it can be hard for people to look beyond the immediate lawsuit.

It's not really an iterated prisoner's dilemma, as on each iteration one of the prisoner is replaced by a new one. Therefore if you don't consider the eventual consequences to all the replaced prisoners as a whole, it is reasonable for the one that is about to be removed from the game to defect.

It's iterated if there are multiple patent trolls or similar entities that might gun for you and your industry. It's probably hard to tell in advance whether this is true, though.

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