Did Microsoft Make a Mistake Buying AOL's Patents?

Some have questioned AOL's

decision to sell $1 billion worth of patents to Microsoft

. Was Microsoft smart? Was AOL stupid?

"It is definitely a smart move for Microsoft," Trip Chowdhry, the Managing Director of Equity Research at Global Equities Research, told Benzinga. "Remember: what is the most important thing in this world? Innovation, protecting innovation, and jumpstarting innovation. Copying is not innovation. Imitation is not innovation." In the never-ending battle between copycats and original creators, Chowdhry believes that patents are the only way to prevent the imitators from taking over. "Think about China: [the nation's] whole business model, the whole country model is based on see-do-see," said Chowdhry. "You see many Chinese Internet companies come over to Silicon Valley. Do you think they are trying to build businesses for them? No. How do you prevent that? By doing exactly what Microsoft is doing; buy the patents, protect innovation." Ultimately, innovation can happen anywhere, and imitation should be challenged, Chowdhry said. "And I think this is a very smart move Microsoft has done, and not only that they should buy [the patents], but they should also forcefully enforce [the patents] globally, from the small company to the big company. You just can't copy what other people are doing."