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And what's so wrong about copying? Do companies really start a business thinking they won't get copied? Getting copied by more companies means you'll have to in
by nextparadigms 15y ago
And what's so wrong about copying? Do companies really start a business thinking they won't get copied? Getting copied by more companies means you'll have to innovate faster, and the end result will be higher quality products for customers, and lower prices. I don't think a little higher competition across the board will stop companies from being built.
- mayank 15y agoThe religious faith in free markets you seem to imply is a bit naive. In reality, startups would be crushed by the biggest player sucking up their innovations and broadcasting it faster and to a larger audience. Let's not forget that patents were originally meant to level the playing field, and that's not a terrible goal (the execution is another matter). Mathematically, your free markets need to be clamped at some boundary conditions if you don't want them to get stuck in a local optimum (e.g., big company swallows all). Patents are one way to do this, in theory at least.
- nextparadigms 15y agoAnd your faith that small companies actually use patents to defend themselves against big ones is a bit naive, too. If anything the big companies use their vast amount of patents to crush small startups that compete against them, even if they managed to get 2-3 puny patents. But the truth is many of them can't even afford to buy a lot of patents.
- tzs 15y agoRead the point I labeled #1.