Technology
This is the official technology community of Lemmy.ml for all news related to creation and use of technology, and to facilitate civil, meaningful discussion around it.
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It's the display that is prohibitively and arbitrarily expensive. None of the other variables matter since all of the low power / retain image advantage is solely because of that display.
And large e-ink displays will remain niche, simply because of the company's pricing.
So... Someone needs to sue them for a monopoly? Seems pretty cut and dry.
I don't think it really applies to patent holders. The company doesn't make the displays -- they license their patent to the companies that make the displays. The licensing cost is what causes the displays to remain expensive, but I'm not sure this counts as a monopoly. I'm not a lawyer, but it seems like patent holders can do pretty much what they like with the patent (and indeed, that kind of seems like the whole point of a patent).
Sounds like Patents need to be changed then. Especially for variations of normal technology. Like, someone should not be able to patent a new variation of an OLED display. But, if you create a NEW product (E.x something that literally doesn't exist yet that creates a new market) then you can patent that. And, patents should expire in 3 years, hard limitation.
No disagreements! It does seem like an area that needs improvement.
A patent is a state-granted monopoly.