Intellectual Property & the Wheel Barrow Problem

In the book Against Intellectual Monopoly, the authors retrace the problem of compensation for the fellow who invented the wheel barrow on page 158, as an example of how something extremely useful but easily copied, might be managed. They address it from an academic point of view, refuting other academics, and I recommend their views.

But from a business point of view, I have a simple solution: the inventor can make wheel barrows and sell them to his customers, and others can make them and sell them to their customers.  Let the customers decide who wins, not courts.

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