Sunday, December 27, 2015

First Mover Advantage and the Tooth Fairy

http://www.newsweek.com/lesson-hoverboard-knock-offs-409117

According to above Newsweek article:
"Absent the government regulation, how can innovators make money? They have the first-mover advantage."

"The hoverboard, like the cotton gin, is in enormous demand. All the government [patent] power in the world will not prevent hundreds of manufacturers from making them, driving the price down and down until everyone can afford one. That one million per week that Razor is spending on trying to stop copycats is probably better spent on marketing and innovation—actually making and selling stuff rather than trying to prevent others from making and selling stuff."

Above Newsweek article concludes:
"It is common wisdom to say that the patent system is broken. But what is broken about it? It’s not that the system is abused. It is that it is used at all. Industrial monopolies achieved through government grants of special [patent] privileges create waste—and the ongoing lawsuits concerning the hoverboard are a case in point.

Whether it is ginning cotton or zipping around on city sidewalks, a true innovative society encourages as much production and innovation as possible, in service of the masses who love the newest and coolest thing."

--Jeffrey A. Tucker is a distinguished fellow at the Foundation for Economic Education.

Problem is ...
All this fancy echo chamber talk about first mover
Doesn't get you past the 800 Pound Guerrilla.

He will crush you.

No comments: