Quote:
Originally Posted by Sil_liS
The market is restricted because of the price. The price is caused by the lack of competition.
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Lack of competition can also be the result of the market being so small that nobody sees a realistic chance that money can be made. And if there is a patent, of course competition is being restricted. That is the purpose of awarding a patent. Rewarding companies for innovation by protecting them from competition for a set number of years. Managed prudently, most everyone benefits. Yes, in some cases people will pay more. But without patent protection those products wouldn't even exist in the first place.
I can see it in our industry. Most countries we sell in (like China) a patent is not worth the paper it is written on it (unless the patent is held by a local company with good connections). So it is a continuous race for the bottom, the only emphasis is on making everything cheaper. Reduce quality so that things are just barely good enough, in many cases not even that. Forget innovation. There hasn't been any real innovation in our field for the last 40 years, as soon as a new product comes out it is being copied down to the last screw, usually even the model name and number of the copied products are the same. So who would be stupid enough to spend money trying to innovate in a situation like that? You concentrate on keeping costs to a minimum and on squeezing your suppliers.