patrick.net

But Harm, thanks.

Malcolm, you have my permission to pounce the next time I post a misspelling or eggcorn.

It's not you that irritated me. We're cool.

I misspell all the time. But I am also able to brush off "attacks" against me easily.

Malcolm Says:
Nice Harm. Criticize a typo from this morning. I’m the only one I know.

I did it, it was me. Probably just my take on the preceding discussion full of sound and fury...

Probably just my take on the preceding discussion full of sound and fury…

It signified nothing. :)

Guys it's not that big a deal, I just had a moment of irritation because, like I said, we had a hell of a discussion this morning and if all that comes out of it is scrutiny of one horrific spelling error that it is a small slap in the face. We're all ok, I didn't mean to overreact.

Now royalties are a true passive income stream.

surfer-x,

I am also income challenged (less than six figures). My mortgage is around the same as what you are looking at, and we get by okay. You should do fine (5.6%, yep, that's "free money"). What is your current rent in SB for those of us who are curious?

a_k1947

Sounds almost like you knew Mikhail personally! I did not know the Soviets granted patents to individuals. I thought the manufacturer would own the patents, and that would only apply to exports.

Different Sean, you have touched on what I was basically saying. I started out questioning if MLS was a monopoly and made the point that even if they are it is not necessarily illegal to be a monopoly. All of your examples are straight from any business textbook. Where Randy made a great point was in bringing up exclusionary practices which may be illegal under the Clayton Act IMO. I know for sure that you can't force a client to buy other specifc items from you to maintain the right to do business with you, but I am honestly not sure if an exclusivity agreement can bar other listing services. On that I honestly just don't know the legal answer.

a_k1947,

You may want to correct this Wikipedia article:

"Despite estimates that there are around 100 million AK-47 assault rifles in circulation, General Kalashnikov claims that he himself has made no money from the sale of these weapons and that he only receives a meagre state pension. He even has a share from a company which produces Umbrellas. And recently, he has said that he wished he had invented the lawn-mower instead."

I heard somewhere that the AK-47 holds some record for the largest number of human deaths.

I think a_k's remarks are some kind of confabulation...

DS,

Cool term, maybe we accuse those who disagree as "having a confab moment"

"I heard somewhere that the AK-47 holds some record for the largest number of human deaths."

Possibly for a single type, but the Soviet army lost 100,000 a week for four years during the Axis invasion in the Great Patriotic War. This was several years before the AK-47 was invented.

HARM your understanding of intellectual property law is pretty accurate. That is in fact how licensing agreements work.

Thanks, Malcolm. Just curious, do you work in a field related to corporate/IP law?

As a Virginia Tech Alum, I just like to pass this on:

Virginia Tech family members across the country have united to declare this Friday, April 20th, an " Orange and Maroon Effect" day to honor those killed in the tragic events on campus Monday, and to show support for Virginia Tech students, faculty, administrators, staff, alumni, and friends. " Orange and Maroon Effect" was born several years ago as an invitation to Tech fans to wear orange and maroon to Virginia Tech athletic events. We invite everyone from all over the country to be a part of the Virginia Tech family this Friday, to wear orange and maroon to support the families of those who were lost, and to support the school and community we all love so much.

Headset, I think that is the record, the weapon with the most casualties. Just something I heard, maybe confabulating.

It's been in just about every war for the last 50 years.

BTW, to add to support Randy's point. You do not need to be a monopoly to be found to violate anti trust. All businesses are bound by the three main acts.

Skibum, do you remember under Clinton when they decided there were too many doctors graduating so they tightened medical school admissions to protect the livelihood.

Any job that requires no specific training, education, or anything other than paying a fee to get in and taking a joke of an exam is not a profession.

I would have to agree, the agent who sold my house last time was totally incompetent and was engaged in borderline illegal activities. She made a lot more money than the law firm that did my green card application.

I would think a knife or a spear actually holds the real record for killing people.

I know it's a tragedy, and people died, but more people died in car accidents that day than the Virginia killings.

I would think a knife or a spear actually holds the real record for killing people.

Fate is the #1 killer of all times.

I’d venture to guess even Realtors ™ would be reluctant to call themselves professionals in the strict and narrow sense of the word - “def: engaged in one of the learned professions” as in lawyers, doctors, etc.

skibum,

You would be wrong to assume that, sir!

http://www.webhomeusablog.com/2007/03/real_estate_con.html

Although we Realtors see ourselves as Professionals, like Doctors and Lawyers, we've never gotten our due from Hollywood with Doctor Shows like ER, General Hospital or Scrubs; and Lawyer Shows like LA Law, Perry Mason or Law and Order.

Lets not confuse, purposely or otherwise, monopoly. patents, and licensing

Monopoly is designed to restrict competition for the sake of restricting competition, usually as favors for the politically connected

patents and royalties are designed to encourage innovation by allowing the developer to recoupe costs and make a profit for a specific period

licensing is designed to insure competence in a profession

Just because all have in common the restriction of trade does not make them equal.

I just want to short circuit the "patents are OK, and they are a monopoly, thus monopoly must be OK, and since monopoly is OK, gov monopolys must be peachy also" brand of tortured logic I see coming.

I know it’s a tragedy, and people died, but more people died in car accidents that day than the Virginia killings.

I know. But people perceive things differently.

I guess it is not politically correct to say that it was an acceptable consequence of life.

Skibum, do you remember under Clinton when they decided there were too many doctors graduating so they tightened medical school admissions to protect the livelihood.

They never "tightened medical school admissions." I'll agree that there is always the impetus from the AMA to limit the number of MDs practicing to keep the profession a premium - that's what all professional organizations do. The Bar exam does it for lawyers, for example. However, technically, standards for admissions have not changed significantly for decades. They increased the standards of accredidation for medical schools themselves, thereby causing a few of the sub-par ones to close. Same end result, but in some ways good because some of the crappier schools went out of business.

Headset, I guess your concern is founded but as someone with a business background I try to caution against the opposite, which is that monopoly is a bad word and is always wrong. I remember a conversation I had with a CEO of a compnay I worked for and I made the comment, 'that patent will give you a nice monopoly on that technology.' The idiot actually tried to correct me. This is a typical PHD who must by definition know everything about everything.

Any job that requires no specific training, education, or anything other than paying a fee to get in and taking a joke of an exam is not a profession.

It's all relative...

HARM,

Thanks for the link. Hilarious. I don't even know what to say to that. I'm dumbfounded.

"Although we Realtors see ourselves as Professionals, like Doctors and Lawyers, we’ve never gotten our due from Hollywood with Doctor Shows like ER, General Hospital or Scrubs; and Lawyer Shows like LA Law, Perry Mason or Law and Order. "

Shows how they rate. Even the Taxicab "profession" had its own show and a movie.

I thought they actually tightened the number of admissions. No point being made, I was just wondering if you remembered it.

Flip that House, and Sell Me are fun shows.

So, the point is, we will tolerate many types of monopoly for many reasons, it's only when an activity is 'easy' that we invoke High Market Principles of anti-monopolism and so on...

Shows how they rate. Even the Taxicab “profession” had its own show and a movie.

Hey, for that matter, even the "oldest profession" has had movies (Pretty Woman, or for that matter any skin flick) and shows (Cops...) about them.

As DS says, it's all relative.

Yes, I think that is the gist.

They increased the standards of accredidation for medical schools themselves, thereby causing a few of the sub-par ones to close. Same end result, but in some ways good because some of the crappier schools went out of business.

Around the same time, there was a Dateline that showed one doctor that was involved in a few patient deaths got his degree and certification from a medical school in Costa Rica(?) - where apparently the first year was taught entirely in spanish. And the doctor, of course, didn't speak any.