But first, for those of us who own PRKR . . .
I’m reading today’s Waco Tribune, as one does on a lazy Sunday morning, and come across Big Tech Smash and Grab Is the Real Threat. Patent theft, it argues, is by far the greater threat to America’s culture of innovation, and thus to our competitive future, than patent trolls.
The example it gives? ParkerVision.
On a related note, I was pleased to see that the judge in Orlando who is overseeing the Qualcomm case has scheduled two days of oral arguments for next week, January 24-25. With luck, he will then rule on the outstanding motions and set a trial date.
The Intel trial in Waco is scheduled for June.
Could 2022 be PRKR’s year?
And now . . .
What better way to spend part of MLK, Jr.’s birthday than to watch Summer of Soul?
Everyone remembers Woodstock, but that same summer, tens of thousands gathered in Harlem to hear Stevie Wonder and Nina Simone, B.B. King and Mahalia Jackson, the Fifth Dimension, Sly and the Family Stone, Gladys Knight & the Pips and dozens more . . . over several consecutive weekends . . . all presented by Maxwell House coffee . . . but never aired. The film sat forgotten in a basement for fifty years. Literally. And then in 2019 it was discovered and turned into this documentary, filled with music — and archival footage — that make it a history lesson every young person should see, even as knees bounce and toes tap.
Treat yourself.
And if you still have time, and are up for a challenge — where things are not as black and white as they had at first seemed — listen to the story of the Coopers. One Cooper, Amy, the white dog walker; the other, Christian, the black bird watcher.
You probably remember the story. You may (or may not) be pleased to learn that the dog walker’s life was ruined in the aftermath of her call to 911. But if you listen to the podcast (at 1.25X speed), you may be surprised. I found it interesting for what it says about our natural tendency to oversimplify, take sides, join mobs. Also, the distinction it draws between “poetic truth versus real truth.”
I think the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. — saddened though he’d be by Chief Justice Roberts’ evisceration of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and by the resurgence of white supremacism — would welcome this kind of thoughtful, civil discussion that allows for nuance and complexity and, ultimately, perhaps, greater understanding.
Have a great week!
