X-Sympa-To: patents
Return-Path: <eddy@chaos.org.uk>
Delivered-To: patents@aful.org
Received: from utter.chaos.org.uk (utter.chaos.org.uk [62.254.213.44])
	by stabilite.aful.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 40FC8394D9
	for <patents@aful.org>; Wed, 21 Aug 2002 03:07:43 +0200 (CEST)
Received: from eddy by utter.chaos.org.uk with local (Exim 3.12 #1)
	id 17hJsW-0007R0-00 (Debian); Wed, 21 Aug 2002 01:01:44 +0000
From: Edward Welbourne <eddy@chaos.org.uk>
To: phm@a2e.de
Cc: srctran@world.std.com, Alexandre.Dulaunoy@ael.be,
	C-FIT_Community@realmeasures.dyndns.org,
	dmca_discuss@lists.microshaft.org, free-sklyarov-uk@xenoclast.org,
	patents@aful.org, iriXx@irixx.org, ilya@theIlya.com
In-reply-to: <Pine.LNX.4.33.0208202103450.14475-100000@mulix.oas.a2e.de>
	(message from PILCH Hartmut on Tue, 20 Aug 2002 21:12:33 +0200 (CEST))
X-Uri: http://www.chaos.org.uk/~eddy/
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Subject: Re: [Free-sklyarov-uk] Re: [DMCA_Discuss] Re: [Patents] IT World  
  Feature: Patently ridiculous: What's Europe to do?
Reply-To: Edward Welbourne <eddy@chaos.org.uk>
References:  <Pine.LNX.4.33.0208202103450.14475-100000@mulix.oas.a2e.de>
Message-Id: <E17hJsW-0007R0-00@utter.chaos.org.uk>
Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002 01:01:44 +0000
X-Validation-by: eddy@chaos.org.uk

> why should company A spend such monies if company B can wait until
> company A has spent such monies, learn from what company A did without
> having to spend the money, and then start selling the product as well,
> often at a cheaper price than company A because company B doesn't have
> to spend the initial monies?

a good question: but, sadly, not at all addressed by the modern reality
of patents, in which company B has but to threaten company A with its
arsenal of patents covering parts of what A has done; A is then forced
to allow B to undercut, unless A can afford to write off the monies
spent on a product it, post hoc, discovers itself unable to exploit.

Worse yet, company C can wade in, with a pure-IP business plan, and
demand money off both A and B, without having to embark on any of the
scary economic risks associated with actually trying to deliver
something useful to the public in a market without any assurance of
reward for honest labours, as A have by now discovered.

	Eddy.

