From: J. R. Molloy (jr@shasta.com)
Date: Fri May 01 1998 - 21:00:32 MDT
From: Dan Fabulich
<daniel.fabulich@yale.edu>
>Since it is the DEVELOPMENT of an idea,
not its distribution, which is
>costly, why not charge money for its
development? In other words, couldn't
>you develop your idea at full cost and
then, since you've got the only one,
>sell it (using encryption and various
other privacy tools) to the highest
>bidder?
Who would buy such a pig in a poke?
Without distribution which includes
demonstrations and samples, no one could
know anything about the product. But if
you mean to accumulate capital from
venture capitalists, then yes,
investment does proceed along those
lines -- not for development of
unpatented products, but rather for
production and distribution of patented
innovations.
>Wouldn't that recompense you the cost
of your idea?
Not if someone with big bucks steals it
and distributes it away from the
inventors.
> And wouldn't
>that prevent people from "stealing" it,
without creating a government
>enforced monopoly?
Even government enforced monopolies
(government constitutes the biggest of
the big monopolies, BTW) expire after a
short period of time during which the
producers and creators can reap their
hard-earned rewards.
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