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Comment by superk | Hacker News Reader

Are you serious? Do you really think a new plastic polymer was invented for your smart phone bumper?

Are you serious? Do you really think there is no IP protecting makeup and production of every single kind of rubber, plastic, metal, and glass used in the iPhone? That IP doesn't come out of nowhere: they either develops it in-house, license it, or acquire it.

So you're saying that when my fabricator in China mass produces these plastic keychains I sell, that a % of the $0.05 they charge per unit they are actually paying out as licensing overhead?

I don't know about plastic keychains, but with materials like the rubber or glass in the iPhone, absolutely. I mean, just as there are movies which use public domain music in the score, there might be some materials that aren't licensed or protected by IP laws, but I imagine that the vast majority of the materials are.

Ok. I don't know what you are talking about. But everyone on the internet right now is talking about generic plastic bumpers (like a glorified condom) for your phone. Not plastic materials found within the iPhone or developed by Apple. If you've never seen one before, it looks like this:

http://www.gadgetgreats.com/images/products/detail/SoftPlast...

I bought one for an iPod. It was $30. My impression was, this might be the most over-priced, marked-up product I ever purchased. Ever. It was clearly < $1 worth of generic keychain plastic. Clearly you believe there are $29 worth of IP and licensing costs to justify the price.

Clearly you believe there are $29 worth of IP and licensing costs to justify the price.

No, if there were $29 of licensing costs, then they'd be selling at a loss, since bringing such a product to market involves a lot of other costs, as well.

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