McDonalds and Starbucks Square Off?

An NPR piece recently discussed how Starbucks and McDonalds are each trying to cut into the other's market: the former introducing breakfast sandwiches and the latter introducing coffee bars in its 14,000 locations. I could see some potential conflict here - yesterday, while en route to Manhattan, I got off the road, noted a Starbucks, got a sweet coffee drink, and added a breakfast sandwich when I noticed that they were available and would only take "30 seconds or a minute" as the worker said - or longer, by my watch.

But for the most part, are the companies and the business press nuts? The two have distinctly different atmospheres and roles to play. People who go to one might go to the other, but under significantly different circumstances. Expecting people to head to Starbucks instead of McDonalds for breakfast is absurd - good luck getting what you want instantly. (And no hash browns?) And expecting people to bring in a laptop and hang out with a McLatte is equally wishful thinking. The people covering business should see this and not take the all too easy angle of "they're out for each other." Even if they are, notice that they're both going to trip and hit the ground face-first, not running, in the process. Or could this be the beginning of the new secret advertising campaign: Have It Their Way?

Competing Against Governments and Universities

A recent case in the Eastern District of Texas reminds us that businesses have to look beyond other commercial entities when it comes to competitive pressures. In CSIRO v. Buffalo Technology, Inc., the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, the Australian national research lab and technology licensing arm, sued Japanese company Buffalo Technology for infringing on a 1992 patent that CSIRO claimed covered all of 802.11 a/g wireless technology. The Australian agency just got an injunction against Buffalo, as the Patently-O blog and other sources have reported.

A large number of prominent companies are trying to challenge the patent. Whether the patent is valid and reasonable or not, what has become clear is that the days of thinking that competition meant only other companies are over. Universities and governments, all in need of revenue sources, are looking at their intellectual property to see what it might offer. Now consider that even a smaller country is going to have financial resources beyond the wildest avarice of corporate managers. Fail to consider what such control and are willing to do, and you could find yourself on the wrong side of a judgment.