America 1982-Chapter 147 - 51 We can always believe Tommy is a scumbag

Sophia and the two assistants sent by the white-shoe firm were sweating cold beads on their foreheads. Holly was staring unblinkingly at the door to the garage, where Tommy leaned casually against the car, chatting placidly with SSD President Charles.

Jason, however, was completely oblivious to the tension of those four, sitting at his desk casually flipping through the freshly printed edition of the National Review that had those four turning pale.

This was brought over by Charles, who, dreaming of one day becoming a Presidential policy advisor, had been subscribing to all sorts of political newspapers and magazines since he was fifteen, acquiring the various kinds of knowledge and leads he wanted from them. Upon discovering a certain article in the latest edition of the National Review, he contacted Tommy Hawk right away and hurried over to discuss it with Tommy.

"If you hadn’t had SSD prepare 176 friends of the court for you in advance, this move they’ve made outside the courtroom would have had Actor waiting for a courtroom filled with various lawmakers and politicians’ lawyers acting as apparently fair but actually biased friends of the court for Lotus Corporation to take turns trampling over you," Charles passed a cigarette to Tommy, then patted Tommy’s shoulder:

"Anyway, whether it is your luck or your foresight, at least for now, don’t worry about Actor Corporation dying from their first strike, a strike that’s damn frightening. Not just for taking down Actor Corporation, but even a company several times larger than Actor would probably sweat buckets from the scare."

Tommy took the cigarette and looked at Charles, "Don’t you think starting a small company is exciting too? Any interest in joining? If you join, this company will be yours, and I’ll go back right away to help SSD focus on organizing parties."

"Stop tempting me, you bastard, okay?" Charles laughed, "Also, you don’t need to organize parties for SSD anymore. Ian has said that he won’t keep the spot of party manager for you anymore. You damn traitor, you caused our defeat in the golf match with the white-shoe firm."

"I saved the day in the end by winning the championship, okay? You guys should practice your golf swing more and pray to God to extend your clubs, just like mine," Tommy lit his cigarette, smiling as he said, "My dear Boss, speaking of which, based on your future presidential policy advisor judgment, do they have any other moves after this one?"

Charles exhaled a puff of smoke, shaking his head with certainty, "No need, this one move is already enough. Even if there were some big company behind your Actor, this move would still let Lotus be fearless. This article is a show of strength, get it? It’s telling those who are eying Lotus that while Lotus might not have much of a foothold in the software industry for now, I have a vast network. Maybe I can’t help much in the business world, but if you’re thinking of resorting to other means and a face-off in court, my network is absolutely strong enough to crush opponents dead in the court’s toilet."

"Hey, there’s nothing written here, not even a mention of Actor Corporation?" Jason quickly finished the magazine and called out to Tommy and Charles, who were smoking and chatting, then turned to the other four, "What exactly are you getting tense about?"

The two assistants from the white-shoe firm and Sophia were still in a state of relief as if they had just survived a great danger and did not respond to Jason’s confusion.

All three of them were law students. When Charles brought over the magazine, they immediately noticed the problem with it.

On that issue of the National Review, there was an article entitled "Why We Need the Patent System." The article told the reader three things in clear language.

The first thing was about the concept of patents, allowing the inventor a limited monopoly on a technology, collecting license fees, and in return, the inventor could disclose the technical details to the licensee so that others could continue to develop based on that invented technology. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

The second thing noted that all commercial companies in the United States together make about five hundred million US dollars a year from patents, while the litigation costs arising from various patent disputes amount to one point seven billion.

The third thing concerned the areas where related subdivision laws were lacking, like in the computer software industry, where patent rights were severely overlooked, leading to a decline in the innovators’ drive for innovation within the software industry.

If one were merely to read this article without understanding what was happening, the name of the author at the end would make it clear at a glance: Jim Manzi, former assistant editor of National Review, former advisor at McKinsey Management Consulting Company, Vice President of Lotus Corporation.

Even though throughout the article there was no mention of Actor Corporation, or even the name of Lotus Corporation, these future litigators all understood that this was Lotus Corporation’s killer move. The article was a rallying cry; Lotus Corporation would soon be contacting politicians and legislators within their own circle. Those people could, with perfectly legitimate reasons and under the guise of friends of the court who appeared fair and impartial, get involved in the upcoming litigation.

The most valued friends of the court are only two kinds, one of which is a public servant with a national post or a showy politician legislator.

That means once the trial starts, there will be a dozen or more politician representatives and lawyers appearing in court, eloquently speaking to the judge and jury, of course, following the script provided by Lotus Corporation.

"Jim Manzi?" Jason, seeing no one answering his question, glanced at the author’s name by himself, "Vice President of Lotus Corporation, just a vice president, what’s there to fear, they have Jim, we have Tommy, don’t underestimate the level of stupidity of that dumbass Tommy."

Unlike a moment ago when several people ignored Jason’s question, now his remark made Holly, Sophia, and the others come to their senses and look towards him, their expressions becoming more animated as a result.

Indeed, although Actor Corporation doesn’t have anyone with a dazzling background like Jim Manzi, they do have a screwball from the countryside named Tommy Hawk.

This bastard was like a prophet who already knew the unscrupulous ways of big corporations. Since the day Actor Corporation was formed, he acted like a tailor, layering on them all sorts of luxurious clothes they could gather, so that Actor Corporation appeared to the world as an aristocrat, each piece of clothing so lush and intricate that people couldn’t notice its filthy body since its inception.

Capitalists all beautify themselves, but this bastard Tommy started this work before even becoming a capitalist.

It seemed as if Actor Corporation had been waiting for this moment since its inception, for the fatal blow from Lotus Corporation.

"The other guy is a bastard from McKinsey Management Consulting Company, and Tommy is just a bumpkin from the East Coast countryside," Holly exhaled and said to Jason, "Do you know about McKinsey?"

Jason snorted disdainfully, "I don’t need to know, because I believe that neither McKinsey nor that bastard Jim can do the things that Tommy can do. Can you imagine how this bastard repaid his dear roommate who supported him relentlessly? Can you?"

"He broke his promise? Didn’t do what he assured you he would?" Sophia asked.

Jason pointed to his own chest, "Sophia, before you answer that question, you have to abandon your identity as a human being and then think about the answer. I told you, what he did isn’t something a fucking human would do."

"I can’t guess." Sophia directly chose to give up thinking.

"Of course, you can’t guess, you’re not that bastard Tommy. The way that dumbass repaid me was by planning to pay money to help me buy awards, you know? Those kind of Best Actor, Best Movie awards given out by the California small movie actors’ union and various movie companies."

As Jason spoke, he tossed the magazine straight into the trash can, "So, this guy named Jim, compared to our Tommy, their shameless methods don’t even compare, we can always trust Tommy is a screwball."

"I’m not sure, what you just mentioned has the same value as what Jim Manzi did," a skeptic from the white-shoe brigade asked Jason with some confusion.

Jason turned his head and looked at him as if he was sizing up an idiot, "Because that motherfucker managed to persuade me to agree to this, as a future litigator who makes money with his mouth, tell me, is it easier to persuade a judge in court to make the right choice, or to convince a normal person like me to make a stupid choice?"