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Economists Argue Patent System Should Be Abolished
nukem996 writes "Two economists at the St. Louis Federal Reserve have published a paper arguing that the American patent system should be abolished. The paper recognizes the harm the current patent system has caused not only to the technology sector but the health sector as well."
Examples, please.
Philo T. Farnsworth. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philo_Farnsworth
Basically invented television, then RCA under Sarnoff stole it. I don't think he ever went bankrupt, but his laboratory equipment was repossessed. All and all, he spent much more time in the courtroom than any inventor should.
All ideas^H^H^H^H^Hprocesses in this post are Patent Pending. (as well as the process of patenting all postings)
You simply have to look at history between 1867-1920, also known as "the age of the robber barons". You see during that period the government REALLY didn't give a shit, no regulations on food or water quality, no regulations on what you dumped and where, no regulations on anything. Hell you could throw 6 year olds to work in mines while you snorted heroin off the ass of an underage hooker, nobody gave a shit. It was Ayn rand's version of paradise.
So what happened? Simple a handful of the richest men met at places like "hunting clubs" and worked out a nice little plan to split the country among themselves. One owned the railroads, one owned shipping, one owned the cattle industry, one owned the oil industry...get the picture? They gave each other sweetheart deals while using their respective monopolies to insure they stayed the sole games in town. Somebody hit an oil field and not want to sell to Standard oil for a pittance? Well I hope you can move that oil on horseback, as you ain't using the railroads or ships to move it! And so on and so on.
This is why I have to laugh at libertarians, because just like communism and fascism it had a chance and was shown to be wanting. If you don't believe me, please, read up about the trusts and the age of the robber barons, it was the most open market in the entire history of the USA and it showed quite clearly that when you give those at the top an unfettered market to play in they WILL run riot. But in the end that is the problem with most "isms" like libertarianism, fascism, communism, in that for the concept to work those at the top can't be douchebags but if its one thing thousands of years of history has taught us is those at the top will ALWAYS BE douchebags, that's just how that works.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.