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No patents anywhere means companies with more money and a thumb on the pulse will unabashedly ape smaller do-ers work. We should encourage independent inventor
by mattlutze 11y ago
No patents anywhere means companies with more money and a thumb on the pulse will unabashedly ape smaller do-ers work.
We should encourage independent inventors and small / mid-size businesses to risk capital on R&D, and reward them with a bit of protection so they can do some marketing while bringing a new thing to market, without having to worry about a big company duplicating their work and selling over them.
The internet doesn't fix the economies of scale afforded by a big cash pile, for either marketing or distribution.
- pjc50 11y agoBig cash piles are easy to turn into a big patent pile which can be used to fence out independent inventors and small / mid-size businesses. What proportion of patents are filed by SMEs anyway?
- mattlutze 11y agoIn one study by the US Small Business Administration, they looked at 2007-2009 (to understand economic activity during the height of the Great Recession) and noted 42% of companies that file 15 or more patents over the two-year period had 500 employees or less (which is, to them, a small to medium business). https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/rs411tot.pdf https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/rs411tot.pdf