tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574479.post6255676382276746979..comments2024-03-29T11:10:02.290+00:00Comments on The IPKat: Industry concentration is on the rise and formation of new companies is on the decline: whither entrepreneurs, innovation and IP?Verónica Rodríguez Arguijohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05763207846940036921noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574479.post-16564485921210943302018-06-26T14:17:00.530+01:002018-06-26T14:17:00.530+01:00Neil, One factor to keep in mind is the drop in nu...Neil, One factor to keep in mind is the drop in number of startups coming out of the university sector. It would be worth considering whether this is because the founders don’t feel the need to finish the programs. Or even to start them, necessarily. This is the Peter Thiel effect.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5574479.post-22534068753536686322018-06-26T10:42:44.726+01:002018-06-26T10:42:44.726+01:00Dear Neil,
thank you for this very interesting po...Dear Neil,<br /><br />thank you for this very interesting post - however, since I personally have an IP definition other than most (cf. here: http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2018/02/can-wenzhou-and-cigarette-lighters-tell.html) I would see this not so much of a problem.<br /><br />Actually IP rights is something that becomes interesting for many companies when their business field as well as their personal performance is not skyrocketing anymore. As Nathan Myhrwold put it "When you grow 30% per year you dont need patents" - you may disagree with a lot with things that he does, but there he is right. It is no wonder that companies like Microsoft or Apple started filing patents on a broad scale when they had their first slump in growth (not that they were not growing, only not as fast as before).<br /><br />That concentration is large when there are scale and network effects is not suprising - actually the contrary would be. Here competition law and decision of competition regulators surely were a bit outdated - Facebook should never have been allowed to buy either Instragram or WhatsApp. That at least in Europe the regulators take a closer look at this sector is a good sign and may save the IT sector from becoming a closed shop. It may also save democracy, but this is another issue.<br /><br />Personally I also disagree that entrepeneurship is needed the more the better, there also can be too many startups. It is also a bit insulting to assume that companies which have been there for a while cannot innovate anymore - at least in Germany, where I live, many well-established companies have proven that they can.<br /><br />Last I do not share the "moral aspect" that you bring up, as if it was somewhat of a crime to work for the big shots in a certain field. <br /><br />Finally it seems to me as it would be too much of a burden to demand from IP that it helps smaller companies rather than bigger ones. Thats what direct subsidies (or tax incentives) or "incubators" etc. are for.<br /><br />However, I would like to thank you for bringing this topic up, such discussions are definitely needed in a field like IP. Thank you!Aloys Hüttermannhttps://www.mhpatent.net/en/the-team/dr-aloys-h%C3%BCttermann/noreply@blogger.com