UCLA Bruin trashes choice of Myhrvold as commencement speaker

Complaints about patent trolls have reached into university selection of commencement speakers.

In an editorial titled "Students need a voice in commencement speaker decisions," Ara Shirinian doesn't specifically call for Myhrvold to be disinvited, but does use the school's speaker selection to urge UCLA's higher-ups to give students more say in such decisions going forward.

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The main complaint about Myhrvold is that Intellectual Ventures has a reputation as more of a patent troll -- it buys patents that can then be used to extract money from companies -- than as an innovator. Although Shirinian acknowledges that Intellectual Ventures also has a research arm and applies for patents of its own.


[http://www.networkworld.com/article/2915931/education/ucla-commencement-speaker-choice-ripped-as-patent-troll.html]