4 ms·
> If someone comes up with a new machine, why publish it if it's legal for every factory and large company to start producing them without compensating the inve
by malwrar 3y ago
> If someone comes up with a new machine, why publish it if it's legal for every factory and large company to start producing them without compensating the inventor? Why sell it yourself if any big company can immediately clone it and undercut your price?
Because you want to make money? There will always be a period in which you exclusively are manufacturing and marketing your machine, before your hypothetical evil omni-corp manages to clone it. Reverse engineering takes time, and (fair, enforced) competition on manufacturing means that we converge on the true cost to manufacture a good faster.
- Arainach 3y agoThat period is a matter of hours. Unless you already own a plant, the companies that produce goods produce generic clones with the same tooling after hours. New fashion trends have clones in online stores in days. Unofficial accessories and cases are available before product launches. Crowdfunded campaigns for hardware have clones on Alibaba before the funding campaign is over.