Ask HN: 为什么鲍克公司在美国拥有 ISBN 的垄断是合法的？
3 分•作者: blindprogrammer•8 个月前
显然，这家公司拥有唯一的ISBN发行权；在美国，没有任何其他公司有合法资格这样做。这非常不寻常，因为它是一家营利性公司，而不是政府机构。所以，我一定遗漏了什么——为什么会这样？
想象一下，如果政府要求使用汽车牌照，但不是由政府自己或其附属机构发放，而是有一个寄生的中间商，政府要求你必须从它那里购买。我知道ICANN的情况有些类似，但ICANN实际上是美国国防机构的下属机构，所以这说得通——而且你可以从多家公司购买域名。
为什么ISBN不由政府机构（如美国专利商标局）资助和运营呢？
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Apparently, this company has the sole right to issue ISBNs; no other company in the USA is legally allowed to do so. This is highly unusual, since it is a for-profit corporation, not a government agency. So I must be missing something—why is this possible?<p>Imagine if the government required car license plates, but instead of issuing them itself or through its affiliates, there was a parasitic middleman that the government required you to buy from. I know ICANN is somewhat similar, but ICANN is effectively a child of a U.S. defense agency, so it makes sense—and you can buy domains from multiple companies.<p>Why isn’t ISBN funded and run by a government agency, like the U.S. Trademark Office?