4 ms·
Multiple other comments in here about this particular niche that the subject of the story went into (medical supplies), but what came to mind to me was a simila
by michaelbuckbee 10y ago
Multiple other comments in here about this particular niche that the subject of the story went into (medical supplies), but what came to mind to me was a similar story about how it's a similar situation with the golf ball market [1] and from many other stories with eyeglasses (Luxottica artificially dominates the market).
These are both cases where it's not so much anti-merger/monopoly law that's the culprit, but the general structure of the legal system that favors those with the larger pockets and forces out upstart manufacturers.
1 - http://www.golfdigest.com/story/ball-wars-costco-files-lawsuit-against-acushnet http://www.golfdigest.com/story/ball-wars-costco-files-lawsu...
- valuearb 10y agoPatents are government monopolies created to incentivize inventors to share their inventions so others could build upon them. The fear was they'd hide their IP behind factory walls and innovation would be slow. Now patents are used by those who don't make anything and often don't even invent anything in order to blackmail those who do.
- flyingfences 10y ago"Intellectual Property" is the use of the State's violence in an attempt to enforce an artificial scarcity upon something that is naturally non-scarce - information. It is inherently antithetical to a free society and always ends up hurting the everyman (and society at large) in the long run.
- untangle 10y agoWhen I hear "IP" I now perceive "rent." Rent is drag and is a prime mover in income inequality.
- flyingfences 10y agoThe two are not at all alike, though. Rent is payment made in exchange for the use of a physical, scarce resource. Information, in contrast, is inherently non-scarce.