I think it's great to give credit to ART+COM for making the demo they did at the time they did it.

Building a PC app that does it much better is also worth recognition IMO, and the Netflix show denies that.

The IP issues were resolved, but I think it was important to point out why there was no infringement for people who might not understand the details as well.

The US patent system is broken anyway, so who cares? It still seems likely that they stole stuff. Google used the same quadtree numbering as Art and Com, that being a coincidence is very unlikely

It's not unlikely at all. We're talking about numbering four tiles in a square, right? There are only two natural ways to do it for anyone who writes in a left-to-right, top-to-bottom language:

    1 2

    3 4

Or (less likely):

    1 3

    2 4

In binary, note that both of these patterns naturally assign one bit to left-right, and the other to up-down, which is a very desirable outcome. E.g.:

    00   01  (0x row)

    10   11  (1x row)

   (x0  (x1
   col) col)

> It still seems likely that they stole stuff.

(Illegal) Copying is not theft

> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeTybKL1pM4

In practice they stole the opportunity to make money with what the ART and COM guys had done.

Which is called competition in the business world, and is generally allowed unless some specific law is broken.