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1.  

   hmm

   

   Curious, Sep 28th, 2005 @ 1:23pm

   
   

   As regards patents, the balance of granting a monopoly is needed to motivate people to invest in research. Sure, sometimes you get lucky and get rewarded many times over the cost of the research, but many times not. Are you suggesting society would be better off without these expensive research undertaking? I doubt it, but without a monopoly, then how do you provide motivation for people to undertake expensive research.

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2.  

   Re: hmm

   

   Mike (profile), Sep 28th, 2005 @ 1:37pm

   
   

   There is very mixed evidence as to how much patents actually motivate research. If you look at the case of periods of time in places like Switzerland and the Netherlands where they did away with patents -- innovation thrived. It certainly suggests that the market is an adequate method of rewarding people for innovation, and that should motivate them.
   
   Could there be cases where monopoly rights are needed? Perhaps. But, why do we assume they're needed in so many cases, when most of the examples we keep seeing clearly don't deserve monopoly protection?

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3.  

   such as silly argument

   

   nonuser (BS), Sep 28th, 2005 @ 8:06pm

   
   

   Anyone is free to set up shop across the street from the only pizza joint on the block, but that would cost significant sums for rent, remodeling, utilities, food, and labor.
   
   It costs next to nothing to copy and redistribute someone else's digital work, unless it's illegal and you count the costs of mounting a legal defense.
   

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4.  

   Re: such as silly argument

   

   Jeremy Leader, Sep 28th, 2005 @ 11:49pm

   
   

   You're assuming that the biggest cost for a vendor of IP (software, entertainment, etc.) is development of that IP. I suspect that in most cases, things like marketing, sales, customer service and support, etc. cost *much* more than initial development. Which brings us back closer to the pizza realm.

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5.  

   Re: such as silly argument

   

   Mike (profile), Sep 29th, 2005 @ 2:16am

   
   

   Actually, it's easy to flip that around. The fact that it costs next to nothing to redistribute a work should be seen as an *opportunity*. Suddenly, the costs of content creators has been slashed. Instead, they seem to see it as a threat.

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6.  

   Re: such as silly argument

   

   patrick, Sep 29th, 2005 @ 9:23am

   
   

   But why does cost of creation matter? If you build a house for $1 or $1 million, it is still your house and permits you to exclude others from using it.

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