Dangerous Precedent: Patenting Cool

Apple vs. Samsung proves that we don't have anywhere close to a free market economy.   We have an economy that has a lot of the negative elements of one: greed and corruption, and an economy that has taken away the ability to have the positive elements: namely, competition.

When you can patent a look, a feel, a size dimension... it erodes competition.   You are eliminating the rights of companies to learn and imitate, which in reality is a much more powerful force than to innovate.   Innovations are a once in a generation find most of the time.   And the catalyst for them are usually not monetary gain - but passion.  Jobs and Wozniak innovated because they were passionate.  Imitation allows companies to learn from each other, and to pass that learning on the customers in the form of lower prices.   Imitation is not just a sufficient condition for competition, it is a necessary one.   When the system takes even the most basic form of imitation away from companies, it takes away the positive power of markets.

If you own Apple stock, you should be happy, but if you own stock in the American dream, you should be very afraid.