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Economists Argue Patent System Should Be Abolished

Posted by Unknown on from the cold-war dept.

nukem996 writes "Two economists at the St. Louis Federal Reserve have published a paper arguing that the American patent system should be abolished. The paper recognizes the harm the current patent system has caused not only to the technology sector but the health sector as well."

9 of 376 comments (clear)

  1. Been saying that... by MitchDev · · Score: 5, Insightful

    For years, but ain;t gonna happen. The big corps will buy the senators and reps to make sure it NEVER happens.

    1. Re:Been saying that... by hairyfeet · · Score: 5, Interesting

      You simply have to look at history between 1867-1920, also known as "the age of the robber barons". You see during that period the government REALLY didn't give a shit, no regulations on food or water quality, no regulations on what you dumped and where, no regulations on anything. Hell you could throw 6 year olds to work in mines while you snorted heroin off the ass of an underage hooker, nobody gave a shit. It was Ayn rand's version of paradise.

      So what happened? Simple a handful of the richest men met at places like "hunting clubs" and worked out a nice little plan to split the country among themselves. One owned the railroads, one owned shipping, one owned the cattle industry, one owned the oil industry...get the picture? They gave each other sweetheart deals while using their respective monopolies to insure they stayed the sole games in town. Somebody hit an oil field and not want to sell to Standard oil for a pittance? Well I hope you can move that oil on horseback, as you ain't using the railroads or ships to move it! And so on and so on.

      This is why I have to laugh at libertarians, because just like communism and fascism it had a chance and was shown to be wanting. If you don't believe me, please, read up about the trusts and the age of the robber barons, it was the most open market in the entire history of the USA and it showed quite clearly that when you give those at the top an unfettered market to play in they WILL run riot. But in the end that is the problem with most "isms" like libertarianism, fascism, communism, in that for the concept to work those at the top can't be douchebags but if its one thing thousands of years of history has taught us is those at the top will ALWAYS BE douchebags, that's just how that works.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
  2. Furthering class warfare by fascismforthepeople · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The patent system, for as much as it gets bad press, offers the little guy (independent inventor) a chance to get ahead. With no patents, anyone with money can make a clone of an existing product and do whatever they want with it, including selling their clone as the original item. Such a patent-less system undoubtedly favors the wealthy who have access to the means to do such things.

    And when you accelerate the acquisition of power, you encourage oppression in the name of profit. This leads directly to fascism for the people.

    1. Re:Furthering class warfare by MickyTheIdiot · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This might be true in a society where the corporate elite can use the court system as a weapon.

    2. Re:Furthering class warfare by h4rr4r · · Score: 5, Insightful

      At one time it did that, now it does not.

      Go pantent something as the little guy, they big boys will then patent every use of your thing they can think of or tie you up in court until you are bankrupt.

    3. Re:Furthering class warfare by Maximum+Prophet · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Examples, please.

      Philo T. Farnsworth. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philo_Farnsworth

      Basically invented television, then RCA under Sarnoff stole it. I don't think he ever went bankrupt, but his laboratory equipment was repossessed. All and all, he spent much more time in the courtroom than any inventor should.

      --
      All ideas^H^H^H^H^Hprocesses in this post are Patent Pending. (as well as the process of patenting all postings)
  3. Re:Been saying that...Wrong, Simply Wrong. by DiniZuli · · Score: 5, Informative

    You, Sir, has clearly not RTFP!
    Please at least read page 13 of the paper, and throw out your well preserved assumptions of how the world works.
    - I'll give you a taste of page 13:
    "There are four things that should be born in mind in thinking about the role
    of patents in the pharmaceutical industry. First, patents are just one piece of a
    set of complicated regulations that include requirements for clinical testing and
    disclosure, along with grants of market exclusivity that function alongside patents.
    Second, it is widely believed that in the absence of legal protections, generics would
    hit the market side by side with the originals. This assumption is presumably based
    on the observation that when patents expire, generics enter immediately. However,
    this overlooks the fact that the generic manufacturers have had more than a decade
    to reverse-engineer the product, study the market, and set up production lines.
    Lanjouw’s (1998) study of India prior to the recent introduction of pharmaceutical
    patents there indicates that it takes closer to four years to bring a product to market
    after the original is introduced—in other words, the fifi rst-mover advantage in pharmaceuticals
    is larger than is ordinarily imagined. Third, much development of
    pharmaceutical products is done outside the private sector; in Boldrin and Levine
    (2008b), we provide some details. Finally, the current system is not working well:
    as Grootendorst, Hollis, Levine, Pogge, and Edwards (2011) point out, the most
    notable current feature of pharmaceutical innovation is the huge “drought” in the
    development of new products."

  4. Re:Been saying that...Wrong, Simply Wrong. by SerpentMage · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Interesting, I do hope you realize that what you are reading, and what you using as a medium to communicate did come from the government. Please check your facts... Thank-you and don't let the door hit you on the way out.

    --

    "You can't make a race horse of a pig"
    "No," said Samuel, "but you can make very fast pig"
  5. Re:Been saying that...Wrong, Simply Wrong. by citizenr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Wrong, wrong, wrong. You are obviously not in the medical business.

    No CAT Scan, MRI or Cancer drugs would have been invented without patents to give the inventors time to make their years of investment back by a period of exclusivity.

    Dont forget aqueduct, sanitation, roads, irrigation, medicine, education, health! Would never happen without patents.

    Oh, did I mention Shakespeare would not write anything without Strong Copyrights?

    --
    Who logs in to gdm? Not I, said the duck.