[v0cab]

I agree about patents, but Samsung have some terrible business practices too.

We need to get rid of these kinds of patents and find new ways to protect US (or European, whatever) companies so that we don't keep getting screwed over by Asian countries blocking our products/services/companies and cloning them.

[creamyhorror]

I sympathise with the need to protect your market, but I'd say US web/tech companies have generally been more successful than European or Asian companies in dominating global markets. Google, Facebook, Twitter, Apple, Microsoft, Groupon, eBay/Paypal - all are the big boys on the world stage. US tech companies are so dominant that competitors in most small countries get swallowed up (not unfairly). The exception is consumer electronics, but US firms haven't competed in that industry in a long while.

Don't paint the US as the poor, screwed victim when it's the largest, most profitable market in the world, and companies from other countries stand next to no chance of taking a lead there. The rest of the world generally does little to block US companies (China excepted). All we can do is try to establish ourselves in our own markets and hope we're acquired by foreign/US firms for a good price when they arrive on our shores.

[v0cab]

Why do companies from other countries stand little chance of being successful in the US?

Developed Asian countries do do as much as they can to block US companies; that's the problem. South Korea is being protected by the US, but they are a prime offender. Obama was quite vocal about this before he started running for president.