Fighting patent trolls and corruption with the Magnificent Seven business-model

[TripleE]

I see what you did there.

[petr]

The same goes for a Fistful of Dollars which was derivative of Yojimbo and a couple of others where Toshiro Mifune and Clint Eastwood play the silent heroic strangers.

[Anton_P_Gully]

@anon15383236

I don’t understand why you think that’s a point worth making

Admitting you don’t understand something is the first step, so you must congratulate yourself on making an important admission. Honestly, I’d try to explain my statement but I suspect it’s best left to professionals.

If you ever feel like debating a comment I make based on my statement and not on the validity of the statement - or grown up discussion, as it is commonly known - then please do feel free to reply in future.

[pcfs_info]

Inspired is a thing… Based is other thing…

Inspired - Steve Jobs designs are inspired on Braun products, “Pacific Rim” is inspired em Kaiju films (Japanese huge “monsters” films).

Based - “Vanilla Sky” is a “remake” based in “Abre los ojos”, “50 shades of gray” is a “book” (or trash) based on “Twilight” characters and for the last “Die Hard” (my favorite action film) is based in a book call “Nothing lasts forever” (one of best name of books that I know).

[anon15383236]

Okay, I’ll just trust then that by parroting the conclusions of some sort of “professionals,” surely you must be right. After all, they’re professionals!

Now that’s some “grown up discussion” right there, dude. :-/

[Anton_P_Gully]

@anon15383236

surely you must be right

Accepting that I’m right is just another step on your path to recovery, my friend.

[bwv812]

Yes; it’s called voting.[quote=“paxsimius, post:2, topic:13372, full:true”]
Is there a way we can apply this to the Republican Party?
[/quote]
Yes; it’s called voting.

[bwv812]

@pcfs_info

Is not similar plot… The Magnificent Seven (1960) is based in Seven Samurai (1954)… also many westerns are based in Japanese movies.

I think that was his point…

[daneel]

Oh, I know about the direct links between Seven Samurai and Magnificent Seven (and Yojimbo and Fistful of Dollars/Last Man Standing/Sukiyaki Western Django), I just thought it was worth mentioning that Kurosawa didn’t operate in a cultural vacuum and had his own influences.

http://www.popmatters.com/feature/131926-west-by-east-by-west/

During the 1950s, Japanese critics often denigrated Kurosawa for creating films that were too Western in style and narrative. In 1959, he responded by making a film based off the most typically American genre, the gun-slinging western. While a western in form, Kurosawa actually borrowed the idea for Yojimbo from a 1929 Dashiel Hammet novel, Red Harvest.

[pcfs_info]

Ok, in some point we agree.

@daneel

While a western in form, Kurosawa actually borrowed the idea for Yojimbo from a 1929 Dashiel Hammet novel, Red Harvest.

I agree he likes westerns, but he make exactly the same from the novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky and William Shakespeare.
In the end he are based in books and novels AND inspired by OTHER movies (Include some old westerns, but also in European movies too).
You say over my comment:

@daneel

Also worth noting Kurosawa was heavily inspired by John Ford’s earlier westerns when making Seven Samurai.

Sound like what I say it’s wrong or incomplete, but this is not what I wan’t to say… the only thing is:

@vadym_zakrevsky

Here’s another movie with remarkably similar plot: Seven Samurai

@pcfs_info

Is not similar plot… The Magnificent Seven (1960) is based in Seven Samurai (1954)… also many westerns are based in Japanese movies.

Do you understand the point… is not a rule of gold of Kurosawa inspiration and sources is not the point, but the The Magnificent Seven inspiration and the movie who is this based.

Case closed.

P.S.: Sorry all for my really bad grammar… I have no formal education on english language and this happen sometimes.

[bwv812]

@heng

I was giving an example of when they fail and pointing out that unions are just as susceptible as business to the problems of greed of those in control. Absolutely there are some effective unions that operate in ways that are beneficial to society. I don’t see this dichotomy that you seem to be suggesting that unions good, businesses bad. Some work for their owners/members/executives/administrators (select as appropriate) to the net benefit of society and some operate in a way which is damaging to society. I would argue the latter is a failure, even when some benefit, be those beneficiaries business owners, business execs, union members of union execs.

If any business is in operation and any union is representing that business’s workers, then we know that a net benefit is being provided to society. If there wasn’t a benefit to society, then the business would be unprofitable and would be shuttered.

The only thing that the Union and the Business do is fight over who should enjoy the profit made by the business. With a relatively strong, effective Union, the workers will enjoy a greater share of the profits (e.g., United Auto Workers, professional sports unions). With a relatively weak or nonexistent Union and a strong Business, the business will enjoy a greater proportion of profits (e.g., Wal-mart, McDonalds). Both of these situations are beneficial to society, to the extent that both allow for profitable, ongoing businesses that provide goods and services that the public wants at prices they are willing to pay.

Typically, when things stop being beneficial to society (i.e., profitable) we see either a re-negotiation of contracts (UAW, legacy airline unions) or the government picking up the slack with welfare and entitlement programs (it is often argued that Wal-mart and McDonalds are not actually socially beneficial, since many of their employees have to rely on federal assistance programs in order to make ends meet).

[Michael_McComas]

Cory,

Another thing that you can do as a victim of a patent troll is to find a lawyer who has previously beaten the troll, and retain them. There are databases that will tell you if the troll has previously sued unsuccessfully, or been counter-sued. The lawyers don’t even have to send a cease and desist letter. You just write back to the troll, thank them for bringing the matter to your attention, and tell them that all further contact should go through your attorney at the law firm of Dewey, Beatem, and Howe. The troll with then do what trolls do when caught in the stark light of day. This has worked for us twice now when confronted by spurious patent claims. (Disclaimer: this pre-supposes that the claim is at least very weak on technical merit and both parties know it.)

[Medievalist]

The Magnificent Seven isn’t really “based on” or “inspired by” Kurosawa’s movie - it’s an unabashed direct copy. Even the dialogue is close to word-for-word identical - just substitute “bandit” for “ronin”, and “gun” for “sword”.

Both movies are good; Kurosawa’s original Seven Samurai is a bit more artistically beautiful, but on the other claw Sturges’ Magnificent Seven is in color. I prefer the original because I dig all Toshiro Mifune’s work with Kurosawa.

[technogeekagain]

Hollywood has a history of remaking even its own films, sometimes achieving nontrivial improvements thereby even without significant changes in the script. (Improving the production quality, better actors, getting rid of a distracting element or character that simply Did Not Work, breaking one role into two… I’m thinking of a particular film, The Buccaneer, which benefited hugely from all of those.)

I’d call The Magnificent Seven the equivalent of a “modern dress” version of a Shakespeare play. Yes, it really is the same script. But changing the context makes it more accessible for some viewers, by giving them clearer cultural references… and it gave us a chance to see what a different director and a different set of actors would do with that material. Perfectly reasonable thing to do.

Especially as Westerns were not exactly known for innovative plots or deep characterization.