Imagine a scenario where an ink/printer producer patents blending of the colors and every newspaper in the world has to pay $0.25 for every paper they print aft

Imagine a scenario where an ink/printer producer patents blending of the colors and every newspaper in the world has to pay $0.25 for every paper they print after 10,000 units. It's far worse than that! My city's newspaper is printed with patented ink[1]. They pay for every drop they use, even for papers they don't sell, even for ink they wash down the drain. And your numbers are way off. Imagine if I had to pay a one time $0.25 fee to read my $22/month newspaper would be more like it. I look forward to a time when I can code and not worry about patents[2], but hobbling people to make a strategic move is not the path to that end. Cost Thing ################ Computer hardware: $400/year ####### Computer software: $200/year ## Power for computer: $50/year ############################ Internet connection: $720/year . H.264 license: $0.25 (Note: The graph is probably off. I have 26 pixels in a # so the '.' would need to be a single pixel, but is four. So, mentally expand the '#' lines by 4 to get the perspective right. Oh, and that is not annual, so maybe another three times. And while we're at it, notice that video is probably your biggest bandwidth need and that by using a more efficient encoding you can use the next tier down at your ISP or pay for fewer bits and save 100 times the cost of the H.264 license.) [1] Probably. They announced switching to the new eco friendly ink with great fanfare. I suspect if they went back to a traditional ink I would not hear. [2] I've personally cancelled a lucrative product after development was completed over patent fears (needlessly it turns out, the patent owner in question never elected to go hunting and we probably didn't infringe but were unwilling to endure the legal distraction), and just this week was discussing picking the bones of a local company that briefly stepped on a ridiculous software patent and had their plug pulled by the parent company instead of fighting the lawsuit.