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buellerbueller • yesterday at 1:21 PM • 3 replies • view on HN

Maybe we should get rid of patent protection. We already have enough welfare for megacorps, and this is just another form of it.


Replies

ta988 • yesterday at 3:26 PM

This is the solution, they do not push for innovation anymore (if ever).

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danaris • yesterday at 5:40 PM

This is exactly the wrong way to be moving. We should be properly enforcing our laws on megacorps, not just shrugging and throwing them out entirely because it's just toooooo haaaaard to actually stop these companies from breaking them.

Without patent protection, any individual or small business that comes up with something new and (currently) patentable would have no recourse whatsoever. The megacorps could just start producing whatever it is as soon as they find out about it, and outcompete the actual creator with massive economies of scale and the ability to take a loss effectively forever on any given product.

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alphawhisky • yesterday at 3:46 PM

Honestly, this would have pretty positive effects on costs of medicine, replacement parts for machinery, etc. It definitely hampers the regulatory capture moat that these companies build.