Re: PAB The Multiple Monopoly Approach

Kent Crispin (kent@songbird.com)
Fri, 27 Feb 1998 11:28:21 -0800

On Fri, Feb 27, 1998 at 01:27:35PM -0500, Bob Helfant wrote:
> Calling something a public resource doesn't change anything. MontBlanc has
> the monopoly over the sale and manufacture of MontBlanc pens. Cross has
> the monopoly over the sale and manufacture of Cross pens. I think that
> pens are a public resource. Where would we be without them? Each company
> has a monopoly over it's product/service. Are you comfortable calling them
> "multiple monopolies?"
>
> Bob Helfant

No, because they are interchangable products. I can use a cross pen
everywhere I can use a montblanc, and it costs me only the cost of
the pen to change. If Amazon.com is forced out of .com because of
some policy change by NSI it will cost them hundreds of thousands of
dollars. This extra expense has no relationship to the $50 it might
cost them to register in .shop, for example.

-- 
Kent Crispin, PAB Chair			"No reason to get excited",
kent@songbird.com			the thief he kindly spoke...
PGP fingerprint:   B1 8B 72 ED 55 21 5E 44  61 F4 58 0F 72 10 65 55
http://songbird.com/kent/pgp_key.html