It's hard to say what will happen, but here's my take on the issue as I posted to slashdot. They may seem a little strange out of context, but oh well.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote/font><HR>Some analyst this guy is! Everyone knows that patents only apply to processes, not physical quantities. Patenting the process of breathing, perhaps, but patenting the air itself? Why, that's absurd! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
As a matter of fact, one of the goals of the WTO is to make it possible to patent a product instead of just a process. So before, somebody could just come along and create a better process and patent it, but if the WTO gets its way, a corporation will have the ability to patent a product (drug companies are especially excited by this one) and in the process effectively killing innovation and advancement and allowing the corporation a monopoly on their product. This is especially detrimental in the case of third world nations that are in dire need of medicine but the prices are inhibiting the process and millions of people are dying as a
result.
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In my opinion, all patent laws should be abolished and copyright and trademark laws too for that matter. They were supposedly created to protect people from the big bad corporations, but they obviously are not working as intended since any corporation with a big bad bank account can just do whatever they want to anyway. If not totally abolish the laws, at least they could restrict patents and copyrights to individual owners instead of corporations.
So instead of companies wanting $$ they want $$$$$$$...
The same companies that don't show any profits, won't tell how they plan to get any profits and then use $$ to try to eliminate any competition - all while making money for the stockholders...Something is wrong with this picture!
It is getting harder if not impossible to compete with those companies that steamroll via $ other smaller businesses...I personally saw that with the small insurance companies taken over (ie closed and jobs lost) by the larger HMOs...No one benefits!
I know that many will think that this is good business - "Just taking advantage of an opportunity, what's wrong with that" - but where will this end? Is the word ethics being used in business anymore?
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote/font><HR>The same companies that don't show any profits, won't tell how they plan to get any profits and then use $$ to try to eliminate any competition - all while making money for the stockholders...Something is wrong with this picture!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Corporations like Wal-Mart have found that the best way to gain market share (ie drive smaller businesses out of business) is to sell their goods at a loss for a few years and then when all the competition is out of business, raise their prices when there's no longer any alternative. I suspect Amazon is trying to do something similar to this with all of their absurd patents and their numerous lawsuits.
I have to say, that I find it funny that Amazon.com can lead the way in e-commerce retail numbers, not be able to show a penny profit, but still increase in value. How do you do that? I'd sure like to know!
That's just it! How come their stock is so valuable, if they aren't making any money? Are there that many prospectors out there? I don't think so, I think it's juts people hopping on the bandwagon.
Heh, If they lose millions of dollars a year and are worth billions of dollars, my site should certainly be worth much more than Amazon! I actually make money on my site. Must be time for me to go public and make a killing.
/font><HR>Some analyst this guy is! Everyone knows that patents only apply to processes, not physical quantities. Patenting the process of breathing, perhaps, but patenting the air itself? Why, that's absurd! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
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