Chapter 2840: Commercial Patents, Joint Law Enforcement

"Right, previously the Verdant Tower imitated our first-generation communication magic device. Now that the profit margins for the third-generation communication artifact are so large, don't let them find loopholes again!"

What Xia Duo mentioned was a past event, one that caused the Tower of Time to lose a significant portion of its income at the time; it wasn't just about the impact on sales, but also because the Verdant Tower's imitation kept driving down the price of the first-generation communication magic device.

With lower selling prices, profits were lower, and coupled with the impact on sales volume, it was hard for income not to be low.

The final result of this matter was that the Arcane Union passed a brand-new Patent Law; previously, the Arcane Union's Patent Law did not protect commercial utilization.

For example, if the Tower of Time developed a new spell and registered a patent, it would indeed receive mandatory patent income from other Mage Tower organizations in Netheril, but correspondingly, other Mage Towers would also have the right to develop commercial applications based on the Tower of Time's new spell.

If the other party was more skilled in the commercial domain, it was possible that the Tower of Time would develop a new spell, but end up profiting less than others!

In this way, without patent protection, who would be willing to register a patent? In the long run, the development of new spells and new theories would inevitably be affected.

The new Patent Law mostly just added a commercial utilization patent, which caused the number of patent registrations in the Arcane Union over the past year or two to far exceed the several decades before the new Patent Law was implemented!

But even after the new Patent Law was implemented, it wasn't as if no one imitated the Tower of Time's second-generation communication magic device; it was just that the quality couldn't compare to the genuine product, and the price wasn't lower than the genuine product, so imitations were not common on the market.

If it's just imitating the appearance of the Tower of Time's communication magic device, while the inside remains the original thing, then as for the appearance, Xia Shao doesn't mind; that actually helps promote the genuine product and form a trend!

"Fine, I will go negotiate with the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce."

The latter is usually not a problem, because the pricing the Tower of Time gives the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce is only the settlement price; the specific selling price is still decided by the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce itself.

"It's possible, but cracking down on counterfeit and shoddy products also requires costs; we can't let them work for us for free. As long as they provide specific action plans, all expenses will be paid by our Tower of Time, and it won't be limited to the Verdant Tower Alliance; within the scope of Netheril, wherever there is an infringement on Tower of Time products, it all needs to be cracked down upon together."

It's still the same point: if it's just imitating the appearance, Xia Shao doesn't mind; at least for now, he has absolutely no resentment toward that kind of situation.

But raising the price too much is not okay. Ruier discovered that the selling price of Tower of Time products in many shops was significantly higher than the price ceiling agreed upon by the Tower of Time and the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce.

Doing this can achieve the maximization of profits.

After Saixili left, Xia Shao let the two secretaries leave as well. He sat at his desk and pondered for a moment, then sent a message to Zhenna mentioning the plan to crack down on counterfeit and shoddy goods; Zhenna did not refuse.

……

The Tower of Time's mass production design scheme was registered for a patent, and it even underwent encryption during the actual production process. Being able to imitate it absolutely cannot be called an accident; it is definitely harboring malicious intent.

If they feel that selling it at a higher price will still result in sales, then they sell it higher; they can also choose to sell more at a lower profit margin. How they choose specifically depends on the actual local market situation and the actual decision-maker of the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce in that locality.

Actually, this idea of Xia Shao's didn't just suddenly arise today, but has been brewing for a period of time. His subordinate Ruier has been traveling all over Netheril for the past year, recording the local customs and practices for him.

This inevitably mentioned the situation of Tower of Time products in various places, such as reputation, sales volume, user experience, and so on.

If it can be said that maximizing profits is barely understandable, then bundling non-Tower of Time products is just too bottomless.

Counterfeit and shoddy goods go without saying; they only ruin the reputation of the Tower of Time.

"Hmm, go ahead, negotiate it as soon as possible."

If he weren't worried about overdoing it, Xia Shao might even consider letting the Floating City constantly patrol above Netheril.

However, in the future, the appearance patent aspect also needs to keep up.

As for the past of the Verdant Tower preventing the Tower of Time's communication magic devices, Saixili is also aware of it. At this moment, hearing Xia Shao's reminder, she also subconsciously became alert.

Yes, the original words of Ruier's regular reports mentioned "style," and the biggest characteristic of the Tower of Time's style is simplicity, and every product fully considers ergonomics.

Appearance imitation is one thing, but there are those directly imitating the Tower of Time's mass production design schemes, and even engaging in fraud under the name of Tower of Time products (counterfeit and shoddy goods are fraud); this is truly intolerable.

Of course, based on this, he is not without countermeasures; perfecting the product line is his response, and it is not just magic items, as he is gradually stepping into other commodity fields, but that takes time.

……

It's just that the Tower of Time has risen too fast these years and has yet to extend its tentacles into the territory of the Verdant Tower Alliance. Saixili pondered for a moment and replied to Xia Shao:

This will inevitably affect the normal sales of Tower of Time products. In the past, Xia Shao considered his relationship with Zhenna and did not name these things, but he believes this is definitely not Zhenna's intention.

During her travels, Ruier discovered many times that some shops of the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce would raise prices and bundle products when selling Tower of Time products.

……

"Right, although this matter is to be done by the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce, we cannot fail to send people to participate, otherwise, it's hard to say where the Tower of Time's money is being used. Let's send two people for now to participate as recorders of the action."

Even the most picky users find it hard to say anything bad about the user experience of Tower of Time products.

Don't look at Xia Shao now being a member of the two councils; others will still imitate if they want to. No one goes against money. According to Ruier's visits, the imitation of the Tower of Time in various places is mainly concentrated on the appearance.

Defending one's own reasonable, fair, and legal interests is something no one can criticize. Moreover, the impression the Tower of Time gave people in the past might have been too low-key and too comfortable, making it inevitable that it would be underestimated. Brushing up some presence from time to time is not a bad thing.

Especially for an existence like the Verdant Tower that has a criminal record, one needs to be even more vigilant.

Therefore, Xia Shao is not worried about imitators occupying his market, but he is afraid of imitators who have no integrity at all, making a bunch of counterfeit and shoddy products to cheat money and ruin the reputation of Tower of Time products; that is truly hateful!

So he hopes that through this "joint law enforcement," he can sweep away the evil atmosphere in the market, whether it is external or internal.

Even if it is a completely different type of product, they will find a way to "touch porcelain" (associate with the brand), as buyers are more willing to purchase products in the Tower of Time style.

Besides these, there is also the issue of the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce. A large chamber of commerce cannot be without selfish motives from top to bottom; even the Grand Arcanist president cannot resist the greed of those below.

And the third-generation communication artifact has even higher profits, which will naturally attract more people to imitate it. It's just that this generation of products is completely different from the previous two; the essence is nothing more than a Mythallar Node, and the real core is actually in the Communication Mythallar.

It can be said that current Tower of Time products are already leading the trend in the design of magic items and even other product designs in Netheril.

"This kind of matter not only concerns the interests of our Tower of Time, but also has a major impact on the interests of the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce. It is difficult for us to directly intervene in the Verdant Tower Alliance, but the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce may not be the same. I will go contact the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce later; this matter still has to rely on them."