Ep 3. Intellectual Property

In Silicon Valley season 4 episode 3 titled "Intellectual Property", our favourite Pied Piper team continues to try and make their platform a success. However, they come across a problem when they learn their new COO, Jian-Yang, has stolen their intellectual property and created his own competing platform.

The episode starts off with Richard and the rest of the Pied Piper team demoing their platform for a group of investors. The investors are all impressed and are ready to invest until they see that the Pied Piper platform still has a lot of bugs. This prompts Richard to approach a popular coder named "The Carver" to try and fix the problems.

Meanwhile, Jian-Yang, who had been hired as the new COO, is convinced that Pied Piper's platform is inferior and that he can create a better platform using the company's intellectual property. He gathers a team and starts working on the platform, which includes a feature called "New Pied Piper".

As the episode progresses, we see Jian-Yang and his team working on their platform while the Pied Piper team is working on their bugs. Gilfoyle and Dinesh find out about Jian-Yang's plan and confront him, only to discover that the platform he is creating is actually pretty good. They are surprised when they see that Jian-Yang has created a neural network that could rival Pied Piper's platform.

Things start to get complicated when Richard finds out that their intellectual property has been stolen and his lawyers advise him to file a lawsuit. However, the process of suing would take a long time and cost a lot of money, which they do not have.

Meanwhile, Dinesh and Gilfoyle are still trying to break into Jian-Yang's system to gather evidence that he has stolen Pied Piper's intellectual property. They eventually succeed, but Jian-Yang discovers what they have done and hacks Pied Piper's system in retaliation.

In the end, Richard decides to put aside the lawsuit and confronts Jian-Yang about his actions. Jian-Yang admits to stealing their intellectual property, but points out that it was made by a previous employee who did not sign a work agreement, thus making it Jian-Yang's property. While Richard is visibly upset, he realizes that Jian-Yang has a point and decides to move on from the incident.

Overall, Silicon Valley season 4 episode 3 titled "Intellectual Property" was full of drama and tension as the Pied Piper team faced their first major roadblock. The episode raises important questions about intellectual property law and how it can be used to protect innovation in the tech industry. It is a great watch for anyone interested in the world of technology and entrepreneurship.