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Climate Change Bill Includes IP Protections

Posted by kdawson on from the quick-let's-patent-carbon-sequestration dept.

moogsynth writes "Buried in section 329 of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act (H.R. 2410), voted in recently, are measures to oppose any global climate change treaty that weakens the IP rights in the green tech of American companies. Peter Zura's patent blog notes that 'the vote comes in anticipation of the upcoming negotiations in December as part of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. ... Previously, there was sufficient chatter in international circles on compulsory licenses, IP seizures, and the outright abolition of patents on low-carbon technology, that Congress felt it necessary to clarify the US's IP position up front.'"

3 of 236 comments (clear)

  1. America is full of itself by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    America is the only large nation opposing (positive) climate change. They're the only ones which are having problems with the Kyoto Protocol. Search "Kyoto Protocol" in wikipedia and see what you get, a Map with all countries green except for the US.

    America seriously has attitude problems...

    1. Re:America is full of itself by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      Or are you trying to tell me that releasing a million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere in China is somehow better for the environment than releasing the same million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere in the US? How does that work?

      It's better because China has even less pollution controls, such as smoke filtering etc. This means that a specific amount of CO2 pollution in China will cause a significantly higher amount of local pollution, such as soot, acid rain, etc, than if the same CO2 pollution took place in the US.

      Why is non-CO2 pollution good? It usually isn't, but for China I'll make an exception. This is because it will cause disease and hopefully help China control its population size, by choking people to death in China's smog-filled cities.

  2. Re:I'm so sick of the American Congress by MaskedSlacker · · Score: -1, Troll

    Congrats on clueless pedantry. In the words of Wolfgang Pauli, you're not even wrong.

    While yes, the US has a republican form of government, it is also classed as a liberal democracy. http://lmgtfy.com/?q=liberal+democracy&l=1