Do motorists prefer patented safety first, or “competition”?
Chief economist Geoff Parr says DTI’s competition authorities will increasingly seek to influence the shape of regulation. Here’s an unpropitious example. For vehicle numberplates, four provincial transport departments specified a patented 3-M reflective material. The competition commission wants to break this supply monopoly. If other businesses can’t easily compete or get licenses, the commission may recommend scrapping each provincial requirement for 3-M’s material “in order to remove the anti-competitive effect it has”. That bullies 3-M to dilute the value to shareholders of its researched, developed and patented technology by licensing competitors – or lose the whole SA business. But non-reflective numberplates are less visible at night. So the commission would sacrifice motorists’ safety in pursuit of peculiar “advocacy to eliminate anticompetitive practices” like supplying a patented product to satisfy demand. Provinces should listen politely then decide for themselves. (FM 18.7
