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And as far as a patent expiring, why isn't there another coca-cola made by another company now that the original patent has expired? Does "classic coke" actually prevent this from happening?
I honestly feel patents get in the way of progress.
Actually there is another coca-cola made by another company. It's called Pepsi. And the two companies battle for intergalactic domination constantly, causing a downward pressure on price.
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So how do you explain a simple rescue balloon device that could have saved many lives not being available yet?
It's not that great of an idea. No offense. If it were a bang-up idea, someone would have put it into production and made money off it. Never doubt the profit motive. Or maybe it was produced once-upon-a-time and it was a miserable failure.
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It truly does take money to make money thanks to patents.
You have to spend money to make money, patent or not. That's a universal axiom. Again, without the protection afforded by patents, there would be no incentive to invent, and therefore, we wouldn't have near the technology we do nowadays.
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f anyone could make a product then the one who can make it best or most efficiently will be the provider until someone else makes it better.
Think about this: Hobie has a ton of money. A lot more money than you or I. You or I invent the Mirage Drive. But there is no way to patent it. Hobie finds out about it, and since they have the money to do so, they rip it off and find a way to make it efficiently, and put it into production. You or I didn't make jack off of our time, effort, and any money invested in inventing the Mirage Drive. A patent prevents this. It is the only mechanism by which the little guy can put the screws to the big guy. Most products are not so unique that they cannot be improved in some way, form or fashion. Improvements to a design or to the materials used in a design always place a downward pressure on prices.