Benjamin Rosen looked at Tommy who appeared in front of him again: "Looks like you've seen that kind of business?" ”

"Long story short, Mr. Benjamin, I don't have time to talk to you about my disgusting experience in Quincy City, I need ten million now, Lotus has replaced their vice president in charge of day-to-day operations, I don't think the new guy has a clue yet, this is the best time to pick up a bat and smash him on the head a few times." Tommy didn't say hello to the other party, and said straight to the point.

Benjamin looked at Tommy, who was more responsive than before: "But I just made an appointment with Mr. Cohen, who is in charge of IBM's personal computer business, to talk in two days, according to you......"

"IBM will agree." Tommy took a deep breath and gave Benjamin an affirmative answer.

Benjamin smiled and nodded: "Okay, Tommy, I'll let the secretary arrange it, do you want me to buy 15% of your shares in the name of Compaq or do you just want it to be an investment?" ”

"I want it to be a donation, I want our deal to be a gift." Tommy leaned forward slightly in Benjamin's direction and accentuated, "A gift of kindness." ”

Benjamin sighed, "But I don't want to give it away." ”

"I have registered a non-profit computer industry advocacy organization called the Electronic Future Foundation, and I would like you to donate 10 million to it, and as a token of appreciation for your support, I will transfer 15% of the shares of Actor Corporation to you free of charge, and you will be invited to serve as the first executive director of the organization." Tommy glanced at the butler in the distance, lowered his voice slightly, and said to Benjamin.

Benjamin's pupils contracted slightly, and he was silent for a few seconds before staring into Tommy's eyes and slowly speaking, "I guess you're not just trying to avoid taxes. ”

"I, Jason White, Susan Curtis quietly initiated the recent establishment of Ms. Delia Case as the legal director of the organization, with the aim of promoting the prosperity and healthy development of the computer industry." Tommy said seriously.

Hearing his words, Benjamin laughed: "You are the initiator, I am the donor, but what our two companies are doing is definitely not a conscience for the computer industry, you plagiarize Lotus, I plagiarize IBM." ”

"The Electronic Future Foundation, or EFF for short, was established to help small and medium-sized companies in the computer industry, such as providing financial support during research and development, providing relevant support to member companies that are facing court defense issues, representing them in their cases, or acting as amicus curiae, protecting computer developers and technologies from various legal threats, resisting patent abuse in the computer industry, etc., and avoiding the poor small studios in the industry. Smaller companies are subject to patent extortion like Actor companies, which is the most likely to protect the creative freedom of their practitioners. Tommy ignored Benjamin's ridicule and self-deprecation, and still talked about the original intention of establishing this organization with a serious face, and only after saying that, did he ask Benjamin Rosen, whose smile was gradually disappearing:

After listening to it, do you feel my conscience? Mr. Rosen? ”

"Does it have members?" Benjamin and Tommy looked at each other for a moment before asking.

Tommy answered his question very quickly, almost without thinking: "There are currently twenty-seven individual members, most of whom are the founders of small companies that have been sued by Lotus to close their doors, and several corporate members, all of whom are small startups run by Stanford college students in garages. ”

"It sounds a bit like the Computer and Communications Industry Association, except that the difference is that one sets a high threshold to select members, while yours is ready to absorb it first and then select it slowly." Benjamin gave an example and gave his own opinion after listening.

The Computer and Communications Industry Association is an organization initiated by several computer and communications industry giants, and its members are only Microsoft, IBM, AT&T, Motorola, Intel and other seven or eight large companies in the industry, and other companies are not eligible to be invited to joinand several major companies have all supported IBM as amicus curiae and so on.

"No, it's more like the backyard of those big companies, using the slogan of dedication to patent reform to attract those small companies to join, by the way, the Actor company to shape the public impression of Lotus into a patent troll, and then help the big companies in the computer industry to provide a list of small companies worth investing in, the EFF is a peripheral auxiliary organization of the computer and communications industry association, it does not conflict with the EFF, and its existence allows the association to announce to the outside world that they do not control the industry." Tommy said to Benjamin.

Benjamin nodded and said slowly: "Everyone is wrong about you, including me, everyone thinks you are greedy, but in fact you are doing a good deed, for those small companies, although you need to contribute EFF donations members have the right of priority to invest and other vague conditions, but at least you are willing to help newcomers in this industry, and those big companies are also happy to join, EFF provides this priority investment right, according to their own company's future planning and select supporting companies that are worth investing in, In short, small companies think they are in a fair and open industry environment, and large companies successfully use EFF to select and support objects, and the two sides complete patent sharing and industry ecology construction in this organization, but they will not join in the end but will be targeted, any other computer practitioners to create it, may make those young people and the outside world suspicious, but you create the most suitable, because of your encounter with the Actor, people believe that you have experienced pain to do this, but now I know, You were prepared to set up this organization before you chose the poor Lotus company. ”

"If you compliment, you can find some free time to tell me slowly, sir." Tommy said, looking Benjamin in the eye.

Benjamin said to Tommy: "You can go, that money will speed up behind you, you are right, IBM will agree to cooperate, how can a large company refuse to support the whole industry, and there is a reason to deceive the government that there is no monopoly and the temptation to remain fair and open." ”

"Goodbye, by the way, borrow a phone." Tommy gets an answer to the conversation and quickly gets up.

He dialed the phone: "Delia, keep an eye on the bank account, start work in the name of EFF as soon as the funds appear, prepare to put one hundred and seventy-six lawyers in place, I want the newspapers and TV in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston to have news about this case, I want news interviews, I want newspaper pages, Tommy Hawke, the founder of Actor, is going to start listening to his mother and doing the right thing." ”

"The first thing I want to tell the ordinary people is that the Actor has encountered terrible resistance in order to make the low-educated people learn to use computers to increase their income, and they actually went out of their way to replace the incompetent vice president and find the powerful Kennedy family members to stop me, and ordinary people love this kind of confrontation story."

……

When he's not in the spot, photographer Pete O'Brien spends most of his time sitting in his small photo studio on Boston's South Side watching TV.

When the wind chimes rang, he stood up and greeted him with a smile: "Sir, do you need to take pictures?" ”

"Mr. O'Brien, it's a pleasure to meet you." The other party was wearing an Armani suit, combing his oily hair, and shook hands with a blank face with a smile: "I'm Eugene Brown from the Creative Photography Center in New York." ”

Pete paused for a moment: "Sir, where did you say you came from?" ”

"Center for Creative Photography, NCCP, New York." The other party repeated it again.

Pete blurted out in surprise: "Wow, that's a mecca for American photographers." ”

"That's right, all photographers want their work to be collected by NCCP, and that's why I'm here, congratulations, Mr. Pete O'Brien." The other party looked at the environment of the photo studio and said.

Pete's whole body seemed to have been struck by lightning, and it took a long time to recover from the news: "But I'm just an ordinary photographer, I mean, I never sent it to you......"

"One of your female portraits was discovered by chance by our well-known photographer, Ms. Rosalind Solomon, and was praised by her, who wanted NCCP to permanently collect your artwork that shows the strength and indomitable strength of women, so I am here." Eugene said with a smile: "After the contract is signed, we will pay you a fee, a total of about 15,000 yuan, to buy out the copyright of that photo." ”

Pitt felt like a dream, and Rosalind Solomon, a well-known female photographer, once shot a series of portrait photographs "Beyond the White House" during the Kennedy administration.

Any American photographer might have seen her portraits and wanted to learn some portrait techniques, but now, the female photographer has actually fallen in love with her work? And recommend it to NCCP?

For a photo, the other party is willing to pay 15,000 yuan to himself?

"Have you had time to travel to New York recently? I mean, the schedule for the next period of time, because there is a contract to be signed, and Ms. Solomon wants to talk to you about photography in person. The man who identified himself as Eugene asked.

Pete felt his legs flutter a little, and he nodded vigorously: "Of course there is time, I can temporarily suspend the business, I ...... Oh yes, I was chosen to be a jury member in a lawsuit, jury service is mandatory, I can't refuse, but I ...... I think that if Ms. Rosalind Solomon wishes to see me, I may apply to the court to request that a substitute juror take my place. ”

"Is it the lawsuit that the software company sues the plagiarists?" Eugene asked, turning his head and staring into Pete's eyes at the moment.

Pee nodded: "Yes, you've heard of it?" ”

"Of course, NCCP uses Lotus software and is no stranger to the company, so which side were you selected for the jurors? Plaintiff, Defendant, or Court? Eugene asked, as if chattering.

Pete shrugged: "I seem to have been picked out by the defendant's team of lawyers in the jury pool." ”

"Then you'd better not talk about it when you see Ms. Solomon, she hates plagiarists because she's been plagiarized in her work, and while I know you won't just vote for it, I guess she wouldn't want to see you too much if she knew your personal tendency to be sympathetic to plagiarists." Eugene said with a smile as if kindly reminding Pete that he needed to pay attention to some minor problems in the meeting.

But Pete was not stupid enough to exaggerate, he seemed to understand something from Eugene's eyes, and slowly asked:

"I seemed to understand, I became a juror, and then my photographs were appreciated and had to be in a permanent collection."

"It sounds like a coincidence, and I hope it won't delay you in the trial." Eugene nodded, but didn't admit it, just called it a coincidence.

Pitt continued: "But I think the formal signing of the contract, and the meeting with Ms. Solomon, will happen after the trial? ”

"Yes, according to the calculation of time, after the end of the trial, after all, there are many contract terms to be drawn up, and now although Ms. Solomon has decided to collect, maybe something has happened in the middle, such as Ms. Solomon has found a better work, after all, we have limited funds, we can only keep improving." Eugene was satisfied that the photographer in front of him understood his words.

Pete continued: "I sympathize with the plagiarists, and maybe it will make Ms. Solomon change her mind. ”

"That's your own whims, and trust me, we decided to collect your work, mainly because your work is good enough." Eugene stretched out his hand to Pete and said goodbye with a smile: "I'm just here to inform you of the news that the work is about to be collected by the NCCP, I hope you can arrange a time, and we will contact you at any time in the future, goodbye, Mr. O'Brien." ”

"I won't sympathize with plagiarists, I won't ......," Pete said in a loud voice after thinking about it.

Eugene walked towards the door, not responding to Pete's words behind him, and when he walked out of the photo studio, Eugene got into a black van: "Inform Mr. Kennedy that the juror selected by the other party has done another." ”

The second update ~ sorry, some late ~ the child has a little problem and delays some time.

(End of chapter)