1. Computer Platforms before the Platform Era
9/20/2018
Computer Platforms before the Platform Era
1945
1955
1965
1975
1985
1995
2005
2015
Randal C. Picker
James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law
Ludwig & Hilde Wolf Teaching Scholar
The Law School, The University of Chicago

2. ‘45
‘55
‘65
‘75
‘85
‘95
‘05
‘15
Big Iron,
1945: von Neumann EDVAC paper
1953: Silicon, not Germanium
1964: IBM releases System/360
1982: DOJ dismisses suit vs IBM
1947: Bell Labs invents transistor
1957: Sputnik launches
1945
1955
1965
1975
1985
1956: AT&T and IBM Antitrust Consent Decrees
1958: Integrated circuit invented
1969: DOJ files SA2 antitrust suit vs IBM
1946: ENIAC

3. The Personal Computer, 1971-2001
‘45
‘55
‘65
‘75
‘85
‘95
‘05
‘15
The Personal Computer,
Nov 1971: Intel releases 4004 chip
July 1994: US-Microsoft MS-DOS antitrust deal
June 2001: DC Circuit affirms MS antitrust liability
Mar 2004: EU finds MS violation for WMP
Apr 1977: Apple II released
Aug 1995: Netscape IPO
1965
1975
1985
1995
2005
Aug 1981: IBM releases PC
May 1998: DOJ brings browser antitrust case vs Microsoft
Jan 1975: Altair 8800 on cover of Popular Electronics
Jan 1976: Gates open letter to hobbyists

4. ‘45
‘55
‘65
‘75
‘85
‘95
‘05
‘15
The Desktop Internet,
May 2010: EU announces Google investigation
Jan 2000: AOL/Time Warner deal
1993: Mosaic
Apr 2015: EU Google Shopping SO
Apr 1998: Brin & Page Google paper
Aug 2004: Google IPO
May 2012: Facebook IPO
1985
1995
2005
2015
Dec 2009: AOL/TW divorce
July 1995: Amazon goes live
Sept 2005: Authors Guild Google Books suit
Oct 2015: CA2 rules in favor of Google on books
Aug 1995: Netscape IPO
Jan 2013: FTC closes Google investigation

5. ‘45
‘55
‘65
‘75
‘85
‘95
‘05
‘15
Mobile,
Jan 2013: FTC smartphone patent settlement with Google
Jan 2010: iPad launch
Jan 2007: iPhone launch
July 2013: DOJ eBooks antitrust suit against Apple
Aug 2012: $1 billion smartphone patent verdict in favor of Apple
Sept 2008: Android SDK released
Apr 2016: EU announces Android SO
2005
2015
Nov 2007: Amazon Kindle launch
Apr 2015: EU announces Android investigation
June 2015: CA2 affirms vs Apple in ebooks suit

6. ACEP: A Platforms Nomenclature
Four Terms/Concepts
Architecture
Commons
Ecosystem
Platform
Key Mechanisms
Access
Connectivity

7. Inventing Computers (and an Architectural Commons)

8. ENIAC: Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer
Chicago Daily Tribune, Feb 15, 1946

9. Picker, Internet Giants: The Law and Economics of Media Platforms
9/20/2018
The Vacuum Tube
Army/Air Force Technical Manual, Feb 1952

10. ENIAC: Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer
Chicago Daily Tribune, Feb 15, 1946

11. ENIAC Patent
U.S. Patent No. 3,120,606 (Feb 4, 1964)

12. Commons Via Publication: von Neumann and the Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer
von Neumann, EDVAC First Draft, June 30, 1945

13. Commons via Publication: The ENIAC Patent Dispute
“The First Draft Report was a printed publication, within the meaning of 35 U.S.C. 102, by June 30, 1945, prior to the ENIAC patent critical date. … The claims of the ENIAC patent asserted in this suit are anticipated by or obvious in view of the First Draft Report.”
Honeywell v. Sperry Rand, D. Minn., 1973

14. Semiconductors Arrive and a Commons is Created

15. Public Disclosure of Transistor
New York Times (July 1, 1948)
September 20, 2018

16. Bardeen & Brattain on The Transistor
The Physical Review (July 15, 1948)

17. Picker, Internet Giants: The Law and Economics of Media Platforms
9/20/2018
Bardeen & Brattain Point-Contact Transistor Patent
U.S. Patent No. 2,524,035 (Oct 3, 1950)

18. Picker, Internet Giants: The Law and Economics of Media Platforms
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Commons Via Antitrust: The AT&T Lawsuit
AT&T Complaint (Jan 14, 1949)

19. Shockley, Sparks and Teal on Junction Transistor
Physical Review (July 1, 1951)

20. Demonstration of Junction Transistor
New York Times (July 5, 1951)

21. Picker, Internet Giants: The Law and Economics of Media Platforms
9/20/2018
Shockley Junction Transistor Patent
U.S. Patent No. 2,569,347 (Sept 25, 1951)

22. Bell Labs Transistor Symposium
Bell Labs (Nov 15, 1951)

23. “Aid the Military Effort”
Bell Labs (Nov 15, 1951)

24. Picker, Internet Giants: The Law and Economics of Media Platforms
9/20/2018
Commons Via Antitrust: Required Patent Licensing as a Remedy
“The defendants are each ordered and directed to grant or cause to be granted … non-exclusive licenses under all claims or any, some or all existing and future Bell System patents … .”
AT&T Final Judgment (Jan 24, 1956)

25. TI Announces Silicon Transistor
Wall Street Journal (May 10, 1954)

26. A Computing Platform

27. Commons Via Business Model: IBM System 360 Introduction
The New York Times, April 8, 1964

28. Propertization via Patent: The First Software Patent
U.S. Patent No. 3,380,029 (Apr 23, 1968)

29. Picker, Internet Giants: The Law and Economics of Media Platforms
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Propertization Via Antitrust: The IBM Lawsuit
New York Times (Jan 18, 1969)

30. Propertization Via Antitrust?: Business Model Unbundling
Los Angeles Times, June 24, 1969

31. Picker, Internet Giants: The Law and Economics of Media Platforms
9/20/2018
Selling Software?
Homebrew Computer Club Newsletter, Jan

32. Picker, Internet Giants: The Law and Economics of Media Platforms
9/20/2018
Selling Software?
Homebrew Computer Club Newsletter, Jan

33. Picker, Internet Giants: The Law and Economics of Media Platforms
9/20/2018
Selling Software?
Homebrew Computer Club Newsletter, Jan

34. Picker, Internet Giants: The Law and Economics of Media Platforms
9/20/2018
Selling Software?: Rebundling?
A SECOND AND FINAL LETTER
“Some letters suggested that software should be sold for a flat fee to hardware companies who would add the cost of the software to the price of their computer. Whether this is legal or not, the marketability of software to hardware companies is questionable when software is so freely shared among hobbyists.”
BILL GATES
General Partner, Micro-Soft

35. Microsoft Windows and the EU

36. Publishers & Advertisers
Music Cos
Publishers & Advertisers
Developers
Media Player
W OS
Browser
Platform tying as one-sided leveraging
Consumers
OS Extension & Tying in Two-Sided Markets
Copyright © 2013 Randal C. Picker

37. Picker, Internet Giants: The Law and Economics of Media Platforms
9/20/2018
Microsoft Fact Sheet, April 2006

38. 9/20/2018
September 20, 2018

39. Picker, Internet Giants: The Law and Economics of Media Platforms
9/20/2018
“Under the commitments approved by the Commission, Microsoft will make available for five years in the European Economic Area (through the Windows Update mechanism) a ‘Choice Screen’ enabling users of Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 to choose which web browser(s) they want to install in addition to, or instead of, Microsoft’s browser Internet Explorer.”
European Commission, Dec 16, 2009

40. Picker, Internet Giants: The Law and Economics of Media Platforms
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41. Picker, Internet Giants: The Law and Economics of Media Platforms
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42. Picker, Internet Giants: The Law and Economics of Media Platforms
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43. Picker, Internet Giants: The Law and Economics of Media Platforms
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“On the basis of information it has received, the Commission believes that Microsoft may have failed to roll out the choice screen with Windows 7 Service Pack 1, which was released in February 2011.”
European Commission, July 17, 2012

44. Thank You