Under pressure, the French government is reforming bankruptcy laws, turning an old-fashioned and punitive system into one rather like America's Chapter 11, which gives firms protection from creditors and the ability to borrow more while they sort themselves out.
For mature firms, protection would be useful if it induces investments on expensive innovations that were impossible for the firm to cover, even with credit.
Putting in place a regulatory framework that fosters more competition takes time, and is likely to depress sale prices by removing firms' protections.
In the landmark 1964 case New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, the Supreme Court laid out the modern understanding of libel law, establishing firm protections for the press.
Furthermore, no matter how much the crime-rate increases, the CEO's and bankers are safe because they can live in a bubble, hiring private security firms for protection.
Firms need protection; but so does the right of governments to pursue reasonable policies.
The list of needed reforms is familiar: more competition, the privatisation of state firms, better protection for investors, a more reliable legal system and a transparent regulatory framework.
As Ray Plank, the founder and former chairman of the Apache Corporation, told the conservative journalist Peter Schweizer, whose book Extortion was later turned into a 60 Minutes episode, campaign cash and corporate contracts with well-connected lobbying firms are "protection money.
According to Mr Jhangiani of Pleasantime Products, chains are forcing an industry notorious for black money to "come into the accounted economy".For toys, dereservation has come too lateCrutches that propped up small firms when protection was still rife have become impediments in a freer market.
Some also said the firm would convert itself from a partnership to a corporation, providing those who remain at the firm more protection against any future liabilities.
But EPO patents, once granted, must be validated, translated and annually renewed in all those countries in which a firm wants protection.
