David. M Smick in ‘The world is curved’ noted that – during the period from 1950 to 1980, when the World Bank and other International Agencies, flush with money, were in their heyday, and when big Government spending was the norm, there was actually a significant increase in global Poverty despite large loans and grants to the developing world. However, from 1980, or in the case of lndia from 1991, the ‘Entrepreneurial Market Economy’, encouraged by the removal of the ‘License Raj’, lowered taxes and tariffs and growing Stock Markets better integrated into the global financial system, though not yet successful in complete Poverty elimination, delivered outstanding Poverty reduction where ever it was allowed to operate. The slogan ‘The Rich get richer while the Poor get poorer’ has a catchy lilt to it, but it is NOT TRUE, – ‘the Rich do get richer but the Poor also get richer, only may be not as rapidly or by as much’, especially as they are not in the queue to share in the growth of the Equity Markets. (See – ‘Equality for ALL or All are Equal?’).

The present patent and copyrightsystem stifles borrowing and cross fertilization of ideas and for being inspired by what was done before and only building upon that. We need to find better ways to allow for and encourage further development of creative ideas and innovation while still allowing for the innovators and creators to profit from their work. Perhaps Patent and Copyright laws should not be too rigorous, except for actual copying, and not be so strict for those using them to generate further innovations or even re-mixes etc, in this era of rapid changes, a lifetime or even 20 years limits, that can be further extended, are not beneficial to the Public and are not the way to go. A more flexible method has to be determined to equitably protect the rights of the original innovator’s/writers’/artists as well as those of the future innovators/writers/artists, for the benefit of all. Patents should be rarer, shorter and easier to challenge in Courts. Perhaps in these days of easy market access through multiple media, five-year patent or ten-year copyrights should be adequate following a similar period of license/royalty of about two percent could be the right way. Ofcourse, no patents can be allowed or granted for Genes and such like products, as these can be seen belonging to ALL humanity, seeing that we all share 99.9 percent of them.

The adage that the world will beat a path to the door of one who builds a better mouse trap is no longer true.

“He who builds a better mouse trap these days runs into material shortages, patent infringement suits, work stoppages, discount discrimination… and taxes. (Also, mouse rights activists).” – H. E. Martz

As the Economist-Nov 2018 recommends-market power to accrue abnormal rents to incumbents should be attacked in three ways.

First – Data and intellectual property regimes should be used to fuel innovation, not to protect incumbents. That means liberating individual users of tech-services to take their information elsewhere. It also, entails requiring big platforms to license anonymized bulk data to rivals.

Second – governments should tear down barriers to entry, such as non-compete clauses, occupational licensing requirements and complex regulation written by industry lobbyists.

Third – antitrust laws must be made fit for the 21st century. Overall competitive health of the markets and return on capital should also, get proper consideration and not only protection of consumer welfare. Regulators should have more powers and Big-tech firms should find it much harder to neutralize potential long-term rivals by acquiring them.

To these, we can add the need for the Government to properly regulate the ownership/ control rights against investment rights. This will allow the entrepreneurs to raise money without losing the rights to own/ control their own enterprises.

These changes may not solve every ill, but will help profits return to historically normal levels, increase productivity and real wages and bring about the needed competition revolution to restore public faith in the market economy.

Entrepreneurship can be encouraged by reducing the infructuous Regulatory and other Governmental requirements and controls over new startups for at least five years, or till they reach a total revenue level of Rs. 10 Crores, or profit levels of Rs. One Crore, whichever is earlier, by which time they should be stable enough to carry the burden of more rigorous implementation of Rules and Regulations. Till then let their customers be their regulators by choosing to patronize them or not. After all, small enterprises have direct relations with their customers, and it is only as they grow larger that such direct contact becomes rarer and hence, more regulation would be required to enable distant customers to trust the quality and claims made by them about their products or services.

To avoid multiple counting, in trading and repairing enterprises the value of purchases of goods or spares for resale must be deducted from the calculation of revenues, even as the taxes as applicable on the commission or services are collected.

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