On bet the company issues, it's far better to be a litigant than a bystander

As I mentioned last week, the most telling insights for me on the news of Google's acquisition of YouTube came from EFF's Fred von Lohmann, who discussed the importance for a company like Google of participation in the judicial lawmaking process.  Members of Google's legal team underscore this point in their comments to New York Times writer Katie Hafner for her story, We're Google, So Sue Us:

Michael Kwun, a senior litigation counsel at Google, agreed that "the Geico case was very important." Mr. Kwun said that establishing a body of precedent was a priority for Google, especially as legal interpretations continued to evolve. "If we don’t at least litigate to the point where we get rulings on the issues that matter to us, we're left with less clarity in the law," he said.

Mr. Kwun has a gift for understatement.  Thanks Jason, for pointing me to the story.