About the small companies being exempt from patent infringing: What
will protect the small companies from having their patents infringed
on by the large corporations? Or are you suggesting the small
companies abandon patents? My concern is that the small companies will
be constantly at odds with the giants who will suck the money out of
them through legal fees.
About nepotism and cronyism: Of course there needs to be transparency
and protocols put in place that keep conflicts of interest from
forming in the government, effectively separating the regulators from
the regulated. Laws that would keep tabs on communications between the
industry and regulators (may be very hard to implement, I admit but
it's just an idea). One of the big problems with regulators today is
that many are former (maybe even current) employees of the companies
they regulate. Maybe this could be turned around into something
positive: former employees of one company regulate that company's
competitors. Crazy enough to work?
On Dec 12, 9:10 am, mad_casual <ademloo...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Dec 11, 11:37 pm, ArtifexCrastinus <deathge...@gmail.com> wrote:
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> > I used to think patenting man-made genes was perfectly reasonable and
> > ethical, as long you don't intend to punish innocent bystanders for the
> > consequences of natural processes beyond their control (such as genes
> > spreading beyond the control of license holders). However, after careful
> > thought and consideration of the real-world abuses of such patents<http://goo.gl/9KUqD>,
> > I've determined that these patents only appear necessary for profit in our
> > current system, but a less flawed system would negate this need. If the
> > government adequately subsidized genetics firms and university genetics
> > labs while the National Science Foundation periodically gave recognition to
> > the scientists and engineers who have made the greatest advancements, much
> > Science could be done in a transparent and competitive manner. Many new
> > biobricks could be developed. As mentioned by Dan Pink <http://goo.gl/aK7so>,
> > monetary rewards only hamper intellectual progress. The R&D would, by
> > law, be a separate outfit from those that work to mass produce the
> > organisms and/or their intended byproducts for selling on the market. Thus
> > genetics companies have little incentive to keep their work secret or
> > patented.
>
> > In the case of the GM crop industry, the scientists at would publish their
> > newest GM-DNA (GM corn DNA, for example). A government-run group would
> > produce enough seeds for environmental impact. consumer safety, and
> > efficacy tests and if those tests are passed, the GM-DNA would be certified
> > for commercial production by farmers. Without paying any licensing fees,
> > farmers would produce their own GM seeds on site, plant, tend to, and
> > harvest the crop and make their money on the market. Licensing fees hurt
> > the potential for new farmers to join the market, but perhaps they could be
> > instituted after farmers have become sufficiently well established. Such
> > fees would be paid to the government and offset the cost of the R&D
> > subsidies.
>
> > I'm looking forward to feedback on this.
>
> First, I think patenting, in the US, is a horribly broken concept and
> needs revamped top to bottom. I'd say the fraud is bad and use the
> terms like 'crisis', 'bubble', and 'robo-patenting' but it's not every
> American Family's dream to have a multi-million dollar patent with a
> white picket frame around it and if every patent in the world were
> voided tomorrow, the losers would be lawyers losing their jobs.
>
> Second, you overestimate the deterrence of licensing fees on the
> market from a farmer's perspective. I'm not sure of the exact numbers
> of farmers deterred by the fees, but it's few, they're small, and
> typically more centered around phobia/skepticism/risk rather than
> actual cost (large parts of the world don't even want GM 'stuff'). You
> have a quaint view of farming. A decent farmer can usually offset fees
> by splitting yields up between the market and producing seed for
> whichever seed company he buys from. Farmers are an integral part of
> the research and production systems; farmers were quite successfully
> propagating genes and sterilizing seed corn before Watson discovered
> the structure of DNA. Lastly, GM crops are hardly the ideal model, a
> cloned lower intestine is going to need significantly different
> regulation and testing than BT corn, and the profit structure to carry
> the cost of regulation (for crops) is pretty well established.
>
> Third, nepotism and cronyism are going to be a part of every system,
> but your system seems ripe to foster it. With a glut of Gov't money,
> you'll have a plethora of mediocre research being done at multiple
> times the cost. This was obvious at the pinnacle of the HGP; Celera/
> TIGR sequencing the same genome in less time for a lower cost than the
> NHGRI. To this day, diploid sequencing is being carried out
> overwhelmingly in private industry. IMO, this is one of the Clinton
> Administration's most brilliant political moves, fomenting the
> competition and then pulling the rug out from under the 'victor'. The
> resulting 'pop' of 'Named Bubble X' in the market didn't do the
> industry any favors, but it certainly wasn't the catastrophe(s) we've
> seen lately. I wonder if, in other markets, a policy of 'disruptive
> deregulation' would work as well as enhanced regulation. IMO, Barack's
> moves were weak, it would be relatively easy to create a patent system
> that protects industry AND fosters individual and small-business
> growth, e.g. Any company or NFP that isn't obligated to comply with
> federally regulated employment practices (<20-100 employees depending)
> is also exempt from infringing on patent-holders' rights.
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