80 ENTREPRENEURSHIP
eral legal policy to an active lobbyist. Other countries, most notably Japan, have a dif-
ferent view of antitrust regulation. In these countries, the zeal of regulatory enforce-
ment may be a function of national economic interests (such as balance of trade or cur-
rency exchange). When national interests collide with consumer or entrepreneurial inter-
ests, national interests have priority. Generally, new ventures are not in danger of violat-
ing antitrust laws; they are more likely to be victims of lax antitrust enforcement.Patent Protection. National governments grant patents and enforce patent laws. A
patent is legal property that enables its holder to prevent others from using a product or
service for a specified period of time. There are three types of patents:- Utility patents, which cover new articles, processes, machines, and techniques
- Design patents, which cover new and original ornamental designs for manufac-
tured products - Plant patents, which cover various forms of life, and genetically-engineered organ-
isms
A patent is a resource and therefore can be analyzed using our resource-based model.
In countries where patent enforcement is lax, a firm may need to weigh the costs of pub-
licly divulging its technology against the benefits of having patent protection before
applying for one.. In many cases, small changes to a product or design erode patent pro-
tection enough to make the patent worthless. In the United States, patents and trade-
marks are managed from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (http://uspto.gov). Here
we can find out how to file a patent or trademark, or do patent and trademark searches
to ensure that we are not violating someone else’s patent or mark.
Recently, businesses have tended to seek patent protection for the waythey do busi-
ness, making minor distinctions in the processes they use. These are known as business
process patents. For example, J. M. Smucker, the Orrville, Ohio, jam maker, attempted
to patent its method for making Uncrustables. Uncrustables are round, sealed, crustless
sandwiches. Smucker’s already had a patent on the sandwich, but wanted to expand the
patent to include how the sandwich was made. They argued that they used a compres-
sion method versus the “smushed” method employed in making tarts and ravioli. A fed-
eral appeals court judge rejected their application, holding that the patent extension
failed the test by being “obvious.” A spokesperson for Smucker’s said, “It wouldn’t be
fair to let another company simply copy the product and benefit from the hard work our
people invested.”^10
Government Spending. In most countries, the national government is the largest pur-
chaser and consumer of goods and services. The government is therefore a large market,
and it displays preferences for certain products, services, and suppliers. These preferences
are influenced by pressures from the various interest groups, stakeholders, and political
organizations that constantly lobby the government. At times, the political winds seem
to favor defense spending and new entrants into defense and related industries. At other
times, government priorities may work to the benefit of building infrastructure or devel-
oping social programs. In the latter case, the beneficiaries would include construction
contractors, consultants, and related service industries.