Robert Maxwell steps into the conference room. He’s already so much easier to work with than Mr. Smith ever was. He doesn’t pull any of the stupid intimidation crap that his predecessor used to either. And he’s come alone. The conference room feels almost empty with only him, Evan, and me here.
“You don’t need any sidekicks?” I ask him.
He shakes his head. A careful smile makes its way onto his dark brown face. “Smith always liked to make a show of force. That’s sometimes useful as a tactic, but often unnecessary. With anything internal, I usually don’t feel the need.” With what I know we pay these guys per hour, I’m grateful to have fewer lawyers getting paid for attending the meeting. “Shall we get right down to business? I imagine you’re anxious to get a second opinion on the Dorothy James situation.”
Evan and I nod in unison.
“I have a proposal that I want to run by you,” he says, his face and vitals showing some tension. “You may feel some resistance to it at first, but please, hear me out before you pass judgment.”
I take a quick glance through Robert’s index entry. Before he worked for us, he used to do mediation rather than litigation. I’m guessing from his nervousness and background that he’s about to propose something that’s a win for all sides.
“Go ahead,” I tell him. “We’ll at least listen.”
“I believe Edward Smith was right, at least in principle,” Robert explains. “It will be very difficult to force them to stop using your technology if they are intent on using it internationally and for humanitarian purposes. The best we could hope for is to prevent them from using it in specific countries. We do have standing to sue for the theft of your intellectual property, but as Smith claimed, it would result in a lengthy and expensive legal battle that we might eventually win but would do little for you. It would be an expensive risk with limited rewards and possible public backlash against the Institute”
From Evan: He’s not off to a great start there.
To Evan: Let’s at least hear him out.
“Since they seem to be using the stolen technology for projects consistent with your overall goals,” he continues, “I’d propose that we license it to them. If we keep the rates reasonable, by which I mean comparable to what they would end up paying for legal expenses if we were to sue them, I believe that they would agree to it.”
Evan almost says something, but stops himself.
From Evan: Fine, but I already don’t like the idea.
“This has several benefits,” Robert says, flicking on the projector and turning off the overhead light. Slides appear on the display with bullet points for the advantages of licensing. “First, we would save the uncertainty and expense of the protracted legal battle, which at a conservative estimate would save you tens of millions of dollars in up-front legal costs and a great deal of your own time and energy over the next decade. Second, we would establish an ongoing revenue stream which could be built out as a business model for future licensing of the technology to other customers that you deem appropriate. Third, you could exercise some amount of control over how the technology is used, both in this case and for future potential licensees. Finally, we could establish a service infrastructure that will allow you to maintain effective dominance of the nanotechnology market even when your patents run out.”
“Wait,” Evan protests. “You want us to just let them keep using our bots? I thought you were going to come up with a way to stop them.”
“There are ways to slow their usage, and restrict it geographically,” Robert explains, “but Smith’s conclusion was fundamentally correct. Fully stopping their use of your technology is unlikely to be successful. I’m sorry. This is the best solution we could come up with.”
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I can feel Evan’s pulse rising. He’s getting agitated.
To Evan: Stay cool, brother. I think he might be onto something here.
From Evan: I don’t like being robbed, Noah.
To Evan: I know they stole from us, but if we can get more people doing the work that we want done, that’s not a bad thing, right? And if we set up licensing and get them using our software, we might have a better shot at controlling our tech in the long term. It’s like how everyone used to pirate music all the time, then when it got easy to listen to whatever you want by signing up for a service, that went way down.
His pulse slows a bit; still elevated, but not rising anymore.
From Evan: Maybe.
Robert looks between Evan and me expectantly.
“Not agreeing to anything here, but what terms were you thinking you could get them to take?” I ask aloud.
“It would be a matter of negotiation,” Robert answers, flipping to another slide with charts addressing potential revenues. “But I expect that you could get several million a year easily with no foreseeable end date. You might need to sweeten it with an agreement not to seek prosecution for criminal charges for industrial espionage given the personalities involved. If you were looking for additional income, you could probably get substantially more by licensing your control mechanism, the implant technology, which they don’t seem to have been able to replicate. There is also significant revenue potential if you were willing to license your construction capabilities, which—according to your report—they have duplicated in only a limited fashion.”
“We’re definitely not up for making the implants part of the package,” I say. “But we could think about including the construction library for just the humanitarian stuff we can build. Let me get with the dev team and see if it’s even possible to adapt those functions to a VR interface like the one they were using on their boat. Don’t do anything with your idea for now. We’d need to get the rest of the siblings on board before we start any of it. We’ll get you an answer either way as soon as we can.”
“Certainly,” he says, unfazed by our response. “I’ll send you all the estimates we’ve put together. Keep in mind that it’s all preliminary and subject to negotiation.”
“Thanks, Robert.”
He heads out. Evan sighs as the conference room door swings closed.
“I know. I don’t like it either,” I tell him, “but I don’t know if we’re going to do better than this. Think about it. If we can get them to use our software, we can put limits on what they can do. If we don’t, they or someone else will eventually recreate what we have. They could even weaponize it, if they haven’t already started on that yet. What Father did with his self-defense functions is just the tip of a very ugly iceberg compared to what someone could do with the bots.”
That gets through. Nothing is more terrifying to someone raised with the Butler Institute’s teachings than the idea of someone turning Father’s world-saving technology to the dark side.
“You’re probably right,” Evan says, slowly shaking his head. “Give me some time to think it over.”
“All right,” I agree. “I’ll think about it some more too. If we’re both feeling like we should do it in a couple of days, let’s pitch it to Louise together. If we want to do this, we probably have to get the sibs on board one by one.”
“Fair enough,” Evan nods. “But that’s enough boring stuff for this morning.”
“I wish. I have at least ten more boring things I need to handle before lunch.”
“Sucks to be you. But before you hole back up in your office, catch me up. What’s up with you and your foreign exchange lady friend lately?”
“What are you talking about?” I ask, getting up.
“The smiles and the sighs, man. That’s a girl getting into your head, and Lin’s the only one outside the family that I’ve ever seen you pay any real attention to. She called you, right?”
I always forget how observant Evan is. How does he see so much using just those two human eyes most of the time?
“I wish. It’s just been email so far,” I answer. “But we’re writing a lot. It’s a little weird with the time difference, but I get a nice long letter from her when I wake up and she gets the same from me at the start of her day. During my afternoon and her morning, we bounce a bunch of messages back and forth. She’s really cool. She’s going to try to meet up with us when we get to China on the Mekong trip. If we can get into China”
He smiles and chuckles.
“Good for you, man. Good for you.”