Gregory,
These companies have very few patents to speak of, in relative terms, because they are not close to pure science, as in the sense that Bell Labs, Sandia Labs and IBM's T.J. Watson Jr. were, IMO. It reminds me of MCI's coat-tailing ATT's developments during the period prior to the divestiture. Most of the leg work and field testing was done by T, and the OCC's would come in behind them and offer me-too services without incurring the costs of development. Nice work when you can get it.
Competition is very peculiar in some ways in this respect, when the dominant players (ok, the monopoly players, if you insist) must divulge and often license, for a mere stipend, the fruits of their labor, under mandates.
Now watch it folks, how you reply to this one, since CSCO, like MSFT (in a different space) itself is on the verge of filling a similar role w.r.t. monopoly powers in "its" markets.
Frank C. |
