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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!"
Is there a nonprofit set up to do this sort of thing?
Would the eff or ACLU be willing to do this?
What other patents have been filed with the same effect?
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It's nice to see research regarding a disease that "KILLS HUMANS WELL" put in the public domain, research that should be in the world's best interest to be public domain, and not nessicarly the IP property of specific companies. If only the same logic was applied to AIDS back in the 80's.
I'm all for people making a profit from research, but it becomes immoral to put the bottom line above human life in order to profit.
There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
Not that there's anything wrong with that. Nice to see behaviour that's both principled and commercially astute.
a world in progress...
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. Lost perspective? Perhaps. But things like these are the perfectly rational consequence of creating a society in which everything's about producing, selling, and buying. If you believe in a society like that, it *is* only normal that you can patent genes, for example. Politics the last two decades or so hast willingly steared to a society like this - with the consent of the largest part of the world's population, so IMHO this is not a question of having lost perspective in politics, but simply of politics based on wrong principles.
The problem I believe is as our civilisation and society grow as a whole, each individuals sphere of knowledge and influence shrinks. We're knowing more and more about less and less and having to rely on communication and interaction to maintain the overall expansion of knowledge. I think we've now reached a state where as individuals the majority of us would be incapable of functioning/surviving alone.
I rely on other people to provide me with food and shelter - but then my providers rely on my area of knowledge, IT - my supermarket relies on logistics. Even within my own field I'd be screwed by myself. I vaguely know how my PC works - couldn't build one myself though. Not even the keyboard. Not even the plastic it's made from. Or the ink of the keys. Or the copper in the wires
My basic point is that the Roman empire collapsed due to over expansion in a purely geographical sense leading to communication breakdown. Western civilisation won't fall due to the geographical problem - but maybe there's a critical mass where the sheer complexity of interaction needed for day to day function will be so large it becomes unstable (or too easily destabilised).
But this is beyond a joke. Patenting a naturally occuring virus???? I'm sorry, but the fact someone has to file a defensive patent is ridiculous. Have patent laws gotten so god damn awful that we have this total nonsense?
Yes, I am aware some companies have patented genes of the human body that are naturaly occuring. I regard that just as absurd and even dangerous. No one has the right to lock away from others stuff liek that. for no reason and no motive is that justified. for no reason and no motive is the patenting of naturally occuring substances right. You are not inventing after all. However, process to do with those genes or substances that require human intervention (say.. a vaccine), yeah well there is a case there. This is a sad indictment on human society if we truly believe we can claim to something naturally occuring in a patent. Prior Art after exists.
No patent? Err... have you read the article? It's about someone patenting the genome to prevent less noble groups from doing that, as:
m$-like farmaceutic company's patent = high prices = much money = rich researchers + little more money for research = dead poor poople who can't avord the expensive cures, as is happening nowdays with 'cures' for AIDS...
filed a defensive patent application to ensure the information remains in the public domain.
There is no need for a "defensive patent" to keep something in the public domain. Patents must be useful, new & innovative and non-obvious. As soon as something is made public, it becomes non-patentable.
They might claim it's to keep things in the public domain, but there is no need to do so. I suspect it's just PR while they hope to make money from their "public domain" patents.
There's nothing wrong with patents to make money, cut out the PR crap.
Are politicians that DAFT to see what is going wrong?
... ??
I believe this is known as a rhetorical question
Seriously though, although the answer is defintely yes, I think it is difficult to expect the politicians themselves to be deeply knowledgeable about this subject. Most of the IT/IP laws associated with the internet that have been passed in the last few years provide more than enough evidence that the people who make the decisions blatantly don't understand the situation. I think a lot of the blame lies with the advisors, the people who should know what they are talking about and who should see where this is going.
I'm not sure how American politics works, but in Australia, politicians move portfolios all the time, and there is no way any of them can become an expert in their area in just a few months.
It seems to me that politicians are making simple stuff complex.
That's because most politicians, advisers, speech writers and behind-the-scenes people in politics are lawyers, and making simple things unnecesarily complicated is what they do for a living. The law doesn't allow for common sense, and there is no room for it in politics either.
I know I have a very negative and apathetic view of politics and politicians, but until I see evidence to the contrary, I don't think I'm that far off the mark.
"Because it's there." - George Mallory, when asked why he wanted to climb Mt Everest, March 18, 1923 (New York Times)
Okay... I can (barely) understand patenting genetic code. Of which, I like to think that I have the exclusive rights to using my own genetic code. If RMS is reading this, he'd probably suggest that the human genome should be licensed under the GPL.
But how can an organization be granted a patent on an organism? I mean, at what point are people going to file for a patent on the Zebra?
Perhaps the answer is -- ALL THE PEOPLE WHO WERE INFECTED!
Seriously, you can't have rights to a virus. Besides the fact that 1) it's already been created (prior art) and 2) viruses don't care about laws and such. I mean, seriously, what would you do if you owned the rights to a virus -- sue everyone who got sick from it?
"Yes, your honor, he caught my virus. I'm asking for both punitive and compensatory damages due to his *cough* alleged *cough* illness."
"The evil of the world is made possible by nothing but the sanction you give it." -- Ayn Rand
Wouldn't any other patents be invalid under prior art? After all, they announced it to the whole world. How could anyone possibly say they discovered it first when you could open a newspaper and see their earlier discovery announcement there?
Sure I'm paranoid, but am I paranoid enough?
This tired old line of reasoning is worth very little once you understand that pharmcos spend twice as much on marketing as they do on research.
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