While mainstream merchants like Wal-Mart have been posting low single-digit percentage gains in comparable store sales, more exclusive outfits like Saks, Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus like clockwork have been posting gains of 10%-25% in monthly sales comparisons for most of the past year.
And because no common law governs software and Internet-access transactions, proponents say manufacturers have nearly exclusive power to decide software sales terms.
While a drug is protected by a patent, the company has the exclusive right to sell it--and that often results in a single drug bringing in sales of billions of dollars.