Skip to content

Comment on HTC's patents could lead to an ban on the next iPhone & iPadparent

Comments

For me, it's been fascinating to see what huge companies that are flush with more cash than ever before [1] will do with that cash during a prolonged recession.

The most common argument for continuing to lower taxes on businesses is that it will stimulate the economy because the businesses will spend the money on their employees. It looks like what actually happens is that they spend the money waging legal wars against each-other.

[1]: http://www.businessinsider.com/corporate-profits-just-hit-an...

I think you'd need more and better stats than a few large mobile phone companies in a turf war to really draw that conclusion.

Indeed; I need to learn more about the Long Depression (1873-79 or longer, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Depression and obviously right when POTS was being developed) but I know that this sort of problem was big in the Great Depression.

Legal wars tend to be expensive because they involve spending a lot of money on employees, though.

On lawyers and other non-productive employees though, not in a way that would grow the economy. That's a huge broken window fallacy.

Well, law firms and court employees, at least.

AboutSource Built by g1lg1l

Hackerly is an independent reader for Hacker News, built on the public HN API. Not affiliated with Y Combinator.