01-03-2024, 11:25 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-03-2024, 11:27 PM by Mike Watterson.)
There was a royalty originally and maybe till late 1950s to make a radio at all.
There was maybe a stage when there was a per valve tax but I don't remember where I read that and it was one reason that UK sets had less valves typically than USA ones, but cost was another reason. It may have not been a Government tax, but a cartel royalty payment.
However more serious was the BVA (a cartel that today would be illegal) and they blocked cheaper imports and for a while prohibited multifunction valves.
See BVA Influence
and Pentagrid vs Triode-Hexode
Philips "secretly"* owned Mullard from 1928 and probably often circumvented the BVA cartel (Mullard was a member)
Stupidly the BVA insisted radio makers paid a "royalty" per valve holder. See Magic Eye article
The Patent system has been abused by big companies since Victorian era, especially in the USA.
[* The supposed British owner of the Mullard shares held in Switzerland was a nominee]
There was maybe a stage when there was a per valve tax but I don't remember where I read that and it was one reason that UK sets had less valves typically than USA ones, but cost was another reason. It may have not been a Government tax, but a cartel royalty payment.
However more serious was the BVA (a cartel that today would be illegal) and they blocked cheaper imports and for a while prohibited multifunction valves.
See BVA Influence
and Pentagrid vs Triode-Hexode
Philips "secretly"* owned Mullard from 1928 and probably often circumvented the BVA cartel (Mullard was a member)
Stupidly the BVA insisted radio makers paid a "royalty" per valve holder. See Magic Eye article
The Patent system has been abused by big companies since Victorian era, especially in the USA.
[* The supposed British owner of the Mullard shares held in Switzerland was a nominee]
