At 09:51 PM 5/5/03 -0700, Steve Schear wrote:
I gave a presentation at a conference a few years back in which I
the idea that since Intellectual Property (e.g., trademarks) aren't (property), its really a lease, that our society should consider setting limits on the market penetration (say 50%, which is already in excess of the what many economists call the "friction free" point wherein companies can continue to gain market share merely by dint of their already considerable presence) of single companies in markets whose size (the therefore probably importance) exceeds some minimum threshold of the GDP. However, instead of enforcing these limits via the Department of Justice, they would become a civil matter and one's competitors can use
raised the
courts to strip a company of its sole lease on a trademark or patent applied to this market.
A few questions. First, could this be done under the US constitution, or is it fiddling too much with the intent of the prescription that the USG support these? Second, who would judge market penetration? Could PC vendors sue Apple for overpenetration in the graphics market? Also, I don't think you want to do this with trademarks ---they're merely for IDing a manufacturer for reputation purposes. They precede and transcend the US; cf bin Laden heroin. With patents, I suspect the best you could do would be to fiddle with the expiration policies ---something for which there is ample precedent. Of course, other nations are free fnord to alter their laws. And this of course assumes that one of Kim's nukular missiles takes out Hollywood before Hollywood takes over the USG. ----- "Naturally the common people don't want war...But, after all, it is the leaders of a country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship, or parliament or a communist dictatorship. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country." --Hermann Goering, (1893-1946) Nazi Reichsmarschall, at the Nuremberg Trials, 4/18/46. From _Nuremberg Diary_ by Gustave Gilbert.