They are ending support, but they still own all the associated patents around it, correct?
What if there was a corporation that bought out every entrant involving new technology (not necessarily monopolizing their already dominant verticals, but other new inventions/ideas)? They either have a winner, or they stifle innovation in corresponding area for the lifetime of any associated patents.
> What if there was a corporation that bought out every entrant involving new technology (not necessarily monopolizing their already dominant verticals, but other new inventions/ideas)? They either have a winner, or they stifle innovation in corresponding area for the lifetime of any associated patents.
There are companies like this: patent trolls. That's why the big tech companies all have patent sharing agreements now.
It sounds like a corporation could impede the humanity/progress of countries that respect these patents by patent_lifetime * number_of_patents so long as they have the money to do so.
What if there was a corporation that bought out every entrant involving new technology (not necessarily monopolizing their already dominant verticals, but other new inventions/ideas)? They either have a winner, or they stifle innovation in corresponding area for the lifetime of any associated patents.