The Microsoft-Apple Gesture Oligopoly

I’ve noted before that various state policies–some ostensibly anti-big-business, such as pro-union legislation, minimum wage, taxes, FDA regulations, tariffs, employment regulations–help big business and decreases competition. This is also true for patent and copyright, which also help to breed these oligopolies of large companies with large IP warchests, which erect barriers to entry, harm the consumer, reduce competition, and gives rise to oligopolies.¹

A good recent example of this are recent patents by Microsoft and Apple on various types of “gestures” used to control smartphones, game systems, and the like. This obviously makes it harder for outsiders to compete in these spaces because they would be hobbled by being prevented from implementing competing features in competing devices.

1. Controls breed controls, Monopolies breed monopolies; Nortel Patents Sold for $4.5 Billion to Consortium Which Includes Apple; Apple vs. Microsoft: Which Benefits more from Intellectual Property?; Patent Cross-Licensing Creates Barriers to Entry. [↩]