[jogger08152]

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It costs $10 million to invent X (in the book it's a food blender, but I'll just use X), and the marginal cost of producing and selling X once invented is $50, and the estimated demand is 1 million of the blenders. Unless the manufacturer can charge $60 per blender, he will not recoup his costs of invention. But if other manufactueres face the same marginal cost as he, competition will (assuming no patent protection) bid the price down to $50, the effort at recoupment fails, and anticipating this the manufacturer will not invent in the first place.

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I want to be sold... However, platitudes like "patents are monopolies and monopolies are never good" and "putting a gun to my head and telling me not to produce something is immoral" won't be enough.

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