[asmithmd1]

So you are saying price==value? That is not true. The price a company extracts from a customer is de-coupled from the value a customer receives.

If I walk into a store to buy a shirt I saw online only to discover it is on sale for 20% off, I am getting the exact same value as buying it online, but the company captured less of the value they delivered.

If there is one shirt left in the store and the store holds an auction for it that I win for a price 20% higher, again I get the exact same value, but the store captured 20% more of the value.

The goal of any sane economy should be to deliver the most value to the people in it - including the people who own companies.

[pclmulqdq]

Basic economics can tell you that "price <= value to customer" is a relationship that holds pretty damn strongly. Price isn't decoupled from value, it is derived from value. I am just saying that the actual customer (not some nebulous notion of society) derives value from the scarcity.

Like it or not, people often get value from scarce things, usually in the form of power (or status for other kinds of goods). In a system with compulsory licenses for everyone who wants them, that power is gone, and so is the value related to it.

> The goal of any sane economy should be to deliver the most value to the people in it - including the people who own companies.

Which is why every economy today has a strong patent system with monopolistic rights. It is a very good way to deliver value to inventors and small technology business owners while encouraging disclosure, and a good incentive for them, in turn, to contribute to the wider body of societal knowledge. A system with mandatory non-scarce licenses would not do this - we would end up with more "coke formulas" and fewer papers.

[asmithmd1]

Now I understand what you are saying. The only way I see individuals deriving value from scarcity is with brands - not functional patents. Even with technical luxury goods like watches and cars, which may also include patents, the real customer scarcity value comes from showing others they are rich enough to buy and flaunt those goods. Can you think of an example where something purely functional is only valuable because it is scarce? Maybe private jets? If jets dropped in price 50x, private airports would become crowded and destroy much of their benefit. But then the gating luxury good would switch to being a member of a private airport network or something.

I am talking about a change to patents, not copyright and trademarks which are exclusive essentially forever. You can still strut around with a $20k Birkin bag (If they deem you a worthy buyer of course) that delivers the same functionality as a $100 purse. No one will be allowed to make fake Birkins and destroy their exclusivity. But if Hermes patents some new zipper, you would be able to duplicate their zipper and pay them a license fee. You would NOT be allowed to mention their brand. Patents are about function, not color, size, style or ornamentation.