While he does have a point, it's not like Softee has never pushed the envelope on copyrights. (Windows is awfully similar to Apple's (AAPL - commentary - Cramer's Take) Mac OS, for one thing among many.) At any rate, I think Google CEO Eric Schmidt really nailed his rebuttal, as reported in the Financial Times today:
"The kinds of comments you're referring to
[criticising Google]
are in the context of a business negotiation," Mr. Schmidt told investors at a Bear Stearns conference. "I have learned that, as part of being a player in the media industry, the way one negotiates is everything is leaked and you're sued to death. So the lawsuits ... appear to be in the course of doing normal business," he said, adding this might reflect the preponderance of lawyers in the media industry.
It's really foolish to take a snapshot of the copyright battles, as they're being fought today and think that nothing will change over the next few months and years. Google, more than any other Internet company, including AOL, MSN or Yahoo! (YHOO - commentary - Cramer's Take), is blazing trails for legal distribution of copyright material in this ever-more-open network we call the Internet. They're not going to fail to get these deals done. In the meantime, the lawsuits and big headlines in the papers are just posturing, and we all should expect to see a lot more of that.
At the time of publication, the firm in which Willard is a partner was net long Microsoft, Apple and Google, although positions can change at any time and without notice.
P.S. Will you be there when Cramer makes his next move?
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Cody Willard is the manager of CL Willard Capital Management, LLC. He is a regular guest on Fox News, CNBC and other networks, and he writes a monthly column for the Financial Times. He is also an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University and the author of TheCodyReport.net, a monthly stock market newsletter. Willard appreciates your feedback -- click here to send him an email.
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