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Good quote from a 2012 story on Gore-Tex.
I asked dozens of industry veterans and designers about the unprecedented marketing attacks from Columbia and Polartec, and the first thing I noticed was the fear. Hardly anyone was willing to speak about Gore-Tex on the record. When I asked one manufacturer why people were being so coy, he told me, “Everybody hates Gore, everybody needs Gore, so everybody’s afraid of Gore. They can make or break you.” He was referring to an open secret among industry insiders: that Gore’s licensees are afraid to work with non-Gore technologies, lest the market leader terminate their contracts.
From what I’m told, it’s still bad.
The Gore-Tex Monopoly: "They can make or break you"
I wondered why Gore-Tex had an office in Silicon Valley (it's at an office park next to SJC.) Must be where they keep their patent lawyers.