Re: (Yet another) IP question
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
but there are other things (most notably pharmacuticals) that cost large amounts to research. No one is going to spend billions on research if they know their product is going to get ripped off and sold for only what materials cost to make it.
[/ QUOTE ]
Where would those billions of dollars go? What stuff is not being developed and invested in because patentable items have higher profit margins?
[/ QUOTE ]
Thousands of them and thousands more would drop out of development without patent protection. Development ideas are approved in companies with barely sufficient projected ROI every day. Take away patent protection and their ROIs drop below threshold and they would be denied.
[/ QUOTE ]
Lets just say that hypothetically tomorrow an amendment to the constitution is passed which will end patent protection in the year 2022 in the US, other major countries don't threaten embargoes against the US because of copycats. The billions of dollars of capital that are currently going into areas that receive heavy benefits from IP protection is still in existence. Where does it go?
[/ QUOTE ]
To a large extent, it doesnt go anywhere, because most of the projects that are profitable without IP protection are already being funded. That slows down productivity growth and eventually leads to recession. Some businesses may have projects that would not be funded in competition with patentable projects that are more profitable, but those are not going to be the kinds of innovations that help grow an economy.
|