America 1982-Chapter 181 - 69: Ordinary people like confrontation stories
Benjamin Rosen looked at Tommy, who had appeared before him once again, "It seems you’ve had a taste of that kind of business?"
"Long story short, Mr. Rosen, I don’t have time to chat with you about the disgusting things I witnessed in Quincy. I need ten million now. Lotus Corporation has replaced their Vice President in charge of daily operations, and I estimate the new guy hasn’t gotten the hang of it yet. Now is the best time to swing a bat at his head." Tommy didn’t exchange pleasantries and got straight to the point.
Benjamin looked at Tommy, noticing his swifter actions compared to before, "But I just arranged to talk with Mr. Cohen from IBM in charge of the personal computer business in two days. According to what you said..."
"IBM will agree." Tommy took a deep breath and gave Benjamin a firm answer.
Benjamin smiled and nodded, "Alright, Tommy, I’ll have my secretary arrange it. Do you want it to be in my name or Compaq’s name to buy your 15% shares, or do you just want it to be an investment?"
"I hope it’s a donation. I want our transaction to be a gift," Tommy leaned slightly toward Benjamin, emphasizing his words, "A gift of goodwill."
Benjamin sighed, "But I don’t intent to give a gift."
"I had previously established a non-profit computer industry advocacy organization named Electronic Future Foundation. In appreciation of your support, I will transfer 15% of the shares of Actor Corporation to you without compensation and you will be invited to be the first executive director of this organization," Tommy said, looking at the butler in the distance and lowering his voice a bit.
Benjamin’s pupils contracted slightly and after several seconds of silence, he slowly looked into Tommy’s eyes and began to speak, "I guess you’re not just trying to avoid taxes."
"I, Jason White, and Susan Curtis had recently quietly initiated it. Ms. Delia Case is serving as the legal director of the organization, aiming to promote the healthy and flourishing development of the computer industry," Tommy said earnestly. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢
Hearing his words, Benjamin chuckled, "You’re the initiator, I’m the donor, but neither of our companies is doing anything particularly conscientious for the computer industry. You’re copying Lotus and I’m copying IBM."
"The Electronic Future Foundation, or EFF, was established to help small and medium-sized computer businesses, for instance, providing funding during research and development, supporting our member companies facing court defense issues, representing their cases, or acting as a friend of the court. It’s to protect computer industry developers and technologies from various legal threats, to resist the patent abuses that exist in the computer industry, and to avoid small studios and companies from facing patent extortion like Actor Corporation did. It’s about safeguarding the creative freedom of the practitioners to the greatest extent possible." Tommy ignored Benjamin’s jest and self-deprecation, continuing to speak seriously about the founding purpose of the organization. After finishing, he then asked Benjamin, whose smile had gradually faded, "After hearing this, do you feel my conscience, Mr. Rosen?"
"Does it have any members?" Benjamin asked after locking eyes with Tommy for a moment.
Tommy answered rapidly, almost without hesitation, "Currently, there are twenty-seven individual members, most of whom are founders of small companies that Lotus Corporation sued out of business, and there are a few corporate members, all of which are startups born out of Stanford University students’ garages."
"It sounds a bit like the Computer and Communications Industry Association, with the difference being that one sets high barriers to select its members, whereas yours seems to be ready to bring them in first and then slowly filter them out." Benjamin gave an example and expressed his opinion after listening.
The Computer and Communications Industry Association is an organization initiated by several computer and communications industry giants. Its members are only major companies like Microsoft, IBM, AT&T, Motorola, Intel, etc., with no other company qualifying for an invitation. Although there is competition among these big companies, they also have many collaborations done through this organization. For example, although IBM had been backstabbed by Microsoft, when facing antitrust lawsuits, companies like Microsoft donated to the organization, hired lobbying firms in the association’s name to help IBM, and all the big companies supported IBM as friends of the court, and so on.
"No, it’s more like the backyard of those big companies. It uses the slogan of patent reform to attract those small companies to join and at the same time shapes the public impression of Actor’s Lotus as patent bullies. It helps the big companies in the computer industry to provide a list of small companies worth investing in. EFF is an auxiliary organization to the Computer and Communications Industry Association. It doesn’t conflict with the EFF, and its existence allows the association to declare that they don’t control the industry," Tommy explained to Benjamin.
Benjamin nodded and slowly said, "Everyone misunderstood you, including me. Everyone thinks you are greedy, but in fact, you are doing something good. For those small companies, although they need to accept the implicit conditions such as EFF donation members having the right of priority investment, at least you’re willing to help newcomers in the industry. The big companies are also happy that after joining, EFF offers the right of priority investment. According to their future company plans, they select suitable companies to invest in. In the end, small companies think they are in a fair and open industry environment, while the big companies successfully use EFF to choose their nurturing targets. Both sides complete patent sharing and industry ecosystem building within this organization. Those who don’t join will end up targeted, and any other computer practitioner who created it might make young people and the public doubt, but only you, given your and Actor’s experiences, make people believe you’ve done this after enduring pain. But now I understand, you were prepared to establish this organization first before you chose poor Lotus Corporation."
