SARS Researcher Files Preemptive Patent Application

ocean-navigator writes " CP Press is reporting that the B.C. Cancer institute has filed a defensive patent application to ensure the information remains in the public domain. The lead scientist asked specifically for his name to NOT be on the application, as he feels that he made a discovery, not an invention. Nice to see a few people with principles, in my own backyard too!"

Comments

A question that has to be asked...

[SerpentMage]

It seems to me that politics and the likes has lost perspective.

Is there not a problem in society when somebody is patenting a gene to keep in the free market? I am glad that they are doing it, but I see a bigger problem.

Are politicians that DAFT to see what is going wrong?

It seems to me that politicians are making simple stuff complex. The more and more I see this stuff I really wonder if Western civilization is collapsing. Somebody said this once to me on flight to Boston in 2002. They said 9/11 was the high water mark in Western Civilization. Like the Roman empire that eventually disappeared so too will the Western society....

Re:A question that has to be asked...

[GigsVT]

There is no natural concept of ownership of ideas. If there were, the constitution would not need a special section creating the artificial protection of intellectual works.

An idea is not property, property implies the exclusive right to possess, enjoy, and dispose of a thing. An idea is useless if you don't tell anyone about it, therefore ideas can't be property without the various patent, trademark, and copyright laws, which confer an artificial ownership to an idea.

Monopolies in itself are not anti-free market

A free market is based on the fundamental principles of mutual consent. There is not mutual consent when you are forced to buy something from a monopoly. There is no informed choice being made when there is no choice at all. Monopolies are one of the great potential failings of the free market, Marx was right enough about that. As a result, we need to be extremely careful when deliberately creating artificial monopolies.

You can think of a few professions that do nothing but "sell" ideas - IT consultants

A consultant usually sells a service, not a product. I doubt many consultants would be put out of business if all IP laws were repealed.

Perhaps the fact that we've limited the free market this way insured that Marx's economic predictions didn't become a reality

Indeed. As a Libertarian, I often disagree with other Libertarians about monopolies and the free market. Some hard line Libertarians do argue things similar to what you were saying.