This week, I have been mostly reading:

• New Low for a Bad Patent: Patent Troll Sues Ventilator Company — Joe Mullin at the Electronic Frontier Foundation: You might think that, during the Coronavirus outbreak and concurrent economic downturn, meritless patent threats might ease up a bit. After all, a lot of companies—particularly smaller ones—are having a hard time making ends meet. And about 32% of patent troll lawsuits do target small and medium-sized businesses. But that’s not what’s happening. In fact, lawsuits by patent trolls are up this year—20% higher than in last year, and 30% higher than 2018. By the count of one company that tracks them, patent trolls have filed 470 lawsuits in the first 4 months of 2020. […] Not only are we seeing a rise in overall litigation, but we can see specific cases that are likely to impact companies involved in direct medical response. Last month, we noted the case of Labrador Diagnostics LLC, a patent troll that sued a company that makes and distributes COVID-19 tests, using patents that it acquired from Theranos, the fraudulent blood-testing company. Now, a shell company called Swirlate IP has acquired a patent that describes generic data transmission, and has used it to sue five different companies—including ResMed [PDF], a company that makes ventilators.
• On the Spotify-Joe Rogan Deal and the Coming Death of Independent Podcasting — Matt Stoller: So what is Spotify trying to do? First, Spotify is gaining power over podcast distribution by forcing customers to use its app to listen to must-have content, by either buying production directly or striking exclusive deals, as it did with Rogan. This is a tying or bundling strategy. Once Spotify has a gatekeeping power over distribution, it can eliminate the open standard rival RSS, and control which podcasts get access to listeners. The final stage is monetization through data collection and ad targeting. Once Spotify has gatekeeping power over distribution and a large ad targeting business, it will also be able to control who can monetize podcasts, because advertisers will increasingly just want to hit specific audience members, as opposed to advertise on specific shows.
• Trump Hails “Good Bloodlines” of Henry Ford, Whose Anti-Semitism Inspired Hitler — Robert Mackey at the Intercept: “The company founded by a man named Henry Ford,” Trump’s prepared text appeared to say, “teamed up with the company founded by Thomas Edison — that’s General Electric.” But when Trump came to Ford’s name, he looked up from the text and observed: “good bloodlines, good bloodlines — if you believe in that stuff, you got good blood.” Trump has made no secret of his own belief that he inherited everything from intelligence to an ability to withstand pressure through the “great genes” passed on to him by his parents and grandparents. He has also frequently compared the importance of “good bloodlines” in humans to the breeding of champion racehorses, a view that overlaps in uncomfortable ways with those of eugenicists and racists like Ford.
• Enjoy your climate crisis — via Bruce Sterling: