| Consider the big picture, as we��쫣e laid it out in previous issues of Trends:
瑗� The population of the developed world is rapidly aging.
瑗� The United States is the only advanced nation where the workforce is forecasted to grow over the next 50 years.
瑗� The populations of the EU and Japan are actually expected to shrink over that time period.
瑗� Even China is rapidly aging and the size of its workforce will peak around 2025.
瑗� At the same time, Latin America, India, the Middle East, and Africa all have young, rapidly growing populations of under-utilized workers and under-served consumers. |
| Back in 2001, something strange happened in the world of patent law. Microsoft, which had been fighting a lawsuit by Priceline, suddenly gave up. The suit, filed in late 1999, claimed that Priceline had patented its ��쐍ame your own price��� auction strategy, and that no one else could use it without a license from the company. Microsoft had been using a similar strategy on its Expedia travel site and had been arguing in U.S. District Court in Connecticut that the auction method was too obvious to be patented. |
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