[Fwd: Kremen VS Arin Antitrust Lawsuit - Anyone have feedback?]

Fri Sep 8 18:19:27 UTC 2006

The real fundamental flaw with this free-market approach to handling IP 
assignments is the fact that it will further create an environment where 
smaller (start-ups, small businesses) entities trying to acquire PI 
space will face insurmountable challenges (eg, financial).

While I think the majority of people these days would agree that the 
free-market approach to economics is definitely the best, certain 
resources are not very applicable to be traded in a free-market 
environment. I myself do not like over-bureaucratic processes, and while 
all of us at one time or another have complained about ARIN's 
procedures, policies, and practices, the purpose they serve is a needed one.

Best Regards,
-Michael

-- 
Michael Nicks
Network Engineer
KanREN
e: mtnicks at kanren.net
o: +1-785-856-9800 x221
m: +1-913-378-6516

andrew2 at one.net wrote:
> 
> 3) What's wrong with treating assignments like property and setting up a 
> market to buy and sell them? There's plenty of precedent for this: 
>  
>  Mineral rights, mining claims, Oil and gas leases, radio spectrum.  
>  
>  If a given commodity is truly scarce, nothing works as good as the free 
> market in encouraging consumers to conserve and make the best use of it. 
>  
>  
> I think you're dead-on there, but you forget who you're really trying to 
> convince.  It'll happen eventually but in the meantime the greybeards 
> who were largely responsible for the Internet as we know it (and who by 
> and large still wield significant influence if not still stewardship) 
> will be dragged there kicking and screaming from their 
> academic/pseudo-Marxist ideals, some of whom seem to still resent the 
> commercialization of the Internet.  It's also hard to see the faults in 
> the system when you are insulated by your position as member of the 
> politburo. 
>  
> The flip side of the coin of course is that if you let the free market 
> reign on IP's, you may price developing countries right off the Internet 
> which I don't think anyone sees as a desirable outcome.  There's sure to 
> be a happy middle ground that people smarter than I will figure out, and 
> maybe it takes a silly lawsuit such as this to kick things off.
>  
> Andrew Cruse