[scotto]

I don't know who renowned iOS developer Mike Lee is, but I think this is fantastic. The only way small timers can effect this legal change is to band together like a union. And we've seen how powerful a union can be.

Trolls are going down, man.

[flyosity]

He's a well-known figure in the indie Mac & iPhone communities and is a co-founder of Tapulous and also worked on Delicious Library for Mac. If anyone in this community could do a good job in this fight, it's Mike.

[Roritharr]

I recently met him at the Startup Weekend Amsterdam and was amazed to find out what a nice guy he is. He is really straight forward, develops ideas on the fly while being totally honest with you.

I'm really glad i could meet him, he is really an inspiring person.

[kragen]

You may not have heard of this, but a union of companies is called a "trust", and there's an entire division of the Department of Justice devoted to preventing them from forming, and destroying them when they do arise: http://www.justice.gov/atr/

[DenisM]

Which is precisely why MPAA, RIAA, BSA, and other industry associations simply do not exist, right? :)

[kragen]

Congress has actually enacted specific legislation to exempt the MPAA and RIAA from some aspects of antitrust law. I don't know about the BSA.

To be more specific, though, there are some ways that companies can legally cooperate under current antitrust law — for example, standardizing screw threads and grades of steel. But boycotting the "products" of certain "vendors" is probably not among them.

[jackpine]

weak sauce. who let this guy on yc?

[theb83]

> I don't know who renowned iOS developer Mike Lee is

Apparently, he's a man who develops software for a proprietary, patent-encumbered platform owned by a company who uses patents offensively. Presumably it's acceptable to use iPatents predatorily because they're broadly linked to a gadget he likes. Or maybe this is just how you think different.