[lmm]

The idea that the business' value is being created in Bermuda (in Google's case, but there will be similar things going on here) is a fiction. The idea that what creates the value is a single concrete piece of intellectual property is a fiction. The idea that that piece of intellectual policy was transferred to Bermuda is a fiction. The idea that what was transferred could be legitimately valued at zero when transferred and yet suddenly responsible for 100% of the business' value in subsequent years is an especially blatant fiction.

I'd love to see the government of Bermuda nationalize that piece of intellectial property and claim all of Google's global income. They've made such a careful, vigorous legal argument that it's responsible for 100% of their revenue, surely they would acknowledge the things they've been claiming for years and continue to pay 100% of their profits to Bermuda.

[londons_explore]

> government of Bermuda nationalize that piece of intellectial property

And, more importantly, nationalize it while compensating the owner for it's declared value, which was zero (or near to).

[thfuran]

I'd rather see the US declare that the IP is no longer promoting the progress of science and the useful arts and annul it.

[londons_explore]

I would like to see an experiment where a country disallowed any company from keeping any secrets at all - IP or otherwise. Everything on all the companies computers and hard drives would always be visible to competitors and the public.

While it discourages long research projects, it really incentivises fast execution and building on other companies designs.

[hiatus]

You might find the culture of gongkai to be in the same vein as your suggestion. https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=4297

[thfuran]

I think companies overvalue secrecy to the point that most that are able would immediately leave. And I don't think most any industry has such a problem with willingness to execute quickly that trying to incentivize that is worth totally crushing R&D. Hell, I think the world could do with a bit more research and a bit less moving fast and breaking things.