Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site terak.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!whuxl!whuxlm!akgua!mcnc!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!hao!noao!terak!doug From: doug@terak.UUCP (Doug Pardee) Newsgroups: net.misc,net.physics Subject: Re: perpet motion - oil companies hiding plans is self-contradictory Message-ID: <457@terak.UUCP> Date: Fri, 22-Mar-85 13:23:25 EST Article-I.D.: terak.457 Posted: Fri Mar 22 13:23:25 1985 Date-Received: Tue, 26-Mar-85 06:43:27 EST References: <608@vortex.UUCP> <369@oakhill.UUCP> Organization: Terak Corporation, Scottsdale, AZ, USA Lines: 33 Xref: watmath net.misc:7653 net.physics:2314 Gee, I'd thought this was a series of humorous notes, but since it seems to have turned serious... > I've always thought that the ideas about oil companies (or any other business) > buying up or otherwise hiding ideas or patents which are so potent as to > revolutionize (and thus undermine) their field of activity is self-contradict- > ory. > > The obvious reason is that if those ideas or patents are so potent, then > billions of dollars could be had by exploiting them, *not* hiding them! Well, somewhat. First off, it's highly unlikely to happen on anything patented, since the day the patent expires (which is earlier for ideas which weren't put into production), everybody and his brother would jump on the scheme, having had the term of the patent to verify that it really works and to refine the concept. While I don't believe that the big companies are hiding major break- throughs, there are certainly reasons that they would want to hide them, rather than make a profit. Consider that IBM purposely put an unusable keyboard on the PCjr, even though they had lots of usuable ones. A big company often feels that it has to protect its existing products. Suppose that there really was a "120 mpg car", and GM has control of the rights. They would almost certainly sit on it, because there aren't enough automotive engineers to redesign all of the models in GM's lineup in a short period of time. If they introduce a few models with 120 mpg, the sales of their other models will collapse instantaneously, as customers decide to keep their old clunkers until they can get one of the new marvels. Sure, Ford, Chrysler, AMC, Toyota, etc would all be put out of business. But so would GM. A Pyrrhic victory. -- Doug Pardee -- Terak Corp. -- !{hao,ihnp4,decvax}!noao!terak!doug