Originally Posted by
Derek Cohen
Van, it is not only costly to apply for a patent (in how many countries are applications needed to protect your design?), but it is even more expensive to defend it in court. Who is the winner with Sawstop and Bosch at this very moment? Not many small start up operators have the capital to invest in a way that large manufacturers can. That is where we come in - the people protect each other, not the law.
Mike, many items can be made cheaper, especially when the cost of design and the research is no longer part of the equation. What percentage of the selling price is just raw materials and what percentage is the development cost that needs to be recouped? Competition is great, but it morphs into theft when there is disregard for ownership of the original design. The answer is to find another way, another design, to do the same thing.
Higher prices are not a justification to build the same item cheaper and call it competition. We would all like a cheaper Domino machine. No doubt, the moment that Festool's protection runs out, we will see a proliferation of such machines - some good and some bad ... just as we see good, bad, cheap and expensive battery drills. At that point it is up to the consumer to say who is the winner, and the manufacturer's challenge is to produce the best unit they can at the best price. Until then, patents protect the investment in design - not the freedom for the manufacturer to sell at the price point they wish ... buyers will vote with their feet. We do still have the ability to make a choice in this regard, which is not lost on manufacturers.
Nothing really changes for me when there is no patent to address the legal issue. Patents are pieces of paper. Original inventions represent people.
Regards from Perth
Derek
p.s. I do hope that the moderators permit this discussion, since it is being conducted in a civil manner. It is a valuable and important discussion, which is the reason I continued when I earlier said I did not wish to do so. Recognition of these issues may help protect our small manufacturers and sustain woodworking for all of us.