Greetings funchy,
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Originally Posted by funchy  No, but research does cost money. To get that capital, and then to develop the idea to the final product, depends on those loaning you the money thinking you might be able to pay it back. How can you pay it back if the moment someone else sees your invention, there are 100 rip-offs out there? |
If the thing in question requires a vast amount of capital to enter production, there is bound to be less competitors from the beginning. Not many are willing to risk the capital before the market potential has been truly shown, through actions of the original contributor, in which case he/or this company will be well equipped with customers and experience to handle any comming competition.
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Originally Posted by funchy That implies all patents/ideas propel humankind forward. I am not sure how the Shamwow, OxyClean, or Slapchop does that. Or the countless patents on military hardware -- finding new and better ways to cut, slice, and puncture human beings in the name of battle. Or the patents made in the name of 'food' which results in global monopolies such as Monsanto or help promote things like factory farming. |
Hold on, im saying patents are bad. Implied was one argument people have for patents, that patents are needed as an incentive for people to come up with ideas. Which is just ludicrus, ideas happen all the time. In the natural-state of mind, the "accomplish more for less" machine is always running, ticking, churning, thinking of ways to improve.
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Originally Posted by funchy What violence is there in patents? If you violate someone else's patent, nobody shoots you. You can be sued, but that's a civil matter. |
Yes but there is a reason individuals choose to comply with what the court orders. Ie. pay fines and such.
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Originally Posted by funchy That implies that the people using the new idea will use the version from the original inventor. If there is no patent, how do you even establish who is "first"? And in America, where people can't even find US states on a map, I am not confident they'll remember Mr So-and-so invented this product first and deserves the business more than Mr Secondperson. We don't even buy American products anymore.... and then we wonder why 10-20% of the workforce cannot find a job. |
Maybe they will copy, manufacture and sell the original product, maybe they will come up with an improvement -in their view- to it, and market that instead, or both.
What it comes down to is, will the consumer buy this or that? We dont know. All we know is that some people like to buy the cheapest they can find, others like to pay a bit more confident they get a better deal.
So anyone should be free to contribute,compete, improve, effectivise, make cheaper, you name it; and patents among other things hinders this.