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WHO: Intellectual Property Claims Hindering Research On Deadly Novel Coronavirus
New submitter kwyjibo87 writes "The World Health Organization (WHO) publicly expressed dismay yesterday concerning news that intellectual property claims were hindering research on a deadly new emerging virus. Novel coronavirus (nCoV), a member of the same viral genus as the causative agent of SARS, has claimed the lives of 22 people (out of 44 reported infected) and left both researchers and health officials scrambling to develop effective diagnostic tests in addition to possible medications and vaccines against nCoV. Now, however, claims of intellectual property on the new virus are hindering research on nCoV according to the WHO, delaying advancements on tools to prevent further spread of the infection. Stories of intellectual property rights in science hindering advancements in research, particularly in clinical applications, are nothing new; the U.S. Supreme Court recently heard arguments on the validity of patents on the BRCA1/2 genes and has yet to issue a decision. The issue of sharing scientific information in order to promote faster research on emerging pathogens is not limited to intellectual property — a recent article in the journal Nature highlighted a case where Chinese researchers risked having their research scooped after uploading viral sequences to a public database designed aid global scientific collaboration."
You freeloaders should be ashamed. It takes a lot of money to do that kind of research, and all these poor, defenseless companies are doing is protecting their investment by patenting the genes they discovered so if and when they choose to further develop it, they will make a reasonable perfectly reasonable 3000% profit on every pill sold.
Not only that, but I think you're all forgetting a very important point here: This virus kills quickly, and any treatment would only last a few days. Where's the profit in that? Sure, it'll kill you, but you as a patient are worth far less than the guy with the limp dick and a few extra bucks to eat pills to make him hard again.
If you want the situation to change, you need to get sick with diseases that are treatable but long-term. We're simply not interested in short-term illness, regardless of whether it kills you or not. Any cures or treatments for a short-term illness are purely accidental and you should be thankful we even bothered to develop it and market it! Ungrateful poor people... jeez. Why can't you all just dry up and die?
Yours Truly,
Big Pharma
P.S. I know you're taking Ritalin your friend gave you to do better on the finals. Contact me privately and I can hook you up with a doctor of questionable repute who will give you your very own legal script. Remember: Unless it comes from Big Pharma, it's a Bad Drug(tm).
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
1) If the funding for research that led to the "patent" was in any part public, then the Patent needs to be public domain at least for non-profit research. Period.
2) If the funding for the research was not public, then the Government should pay for the patent, and make it public domain for non-profit continuing research.
Ether case, The patent should be still commercially viable for commercial purposes.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
Fine, you knuckleheads want to claim ownership? How about some wrongful death suits?
Any survivors/Next of Kin should sue the commercial labs which are claiming patents.
I know Slashdot is a US centric site but please remember that there are many non-native-US-English speakers reading it as well.
There's a website for that problem. And just so we're clear; There's a lot of lingo us Americans don't understand. Calling gas "petrol", for example, or a semitruck a "lorry". Seems just a bit hinky, if you ask me. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to shove off and go do the needful somewhere.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
I thought patents did not prevent research that uses the patented material.
At any rate, allowing patents on discoveries (vs. inventions) is just stupid.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
The subject says it all... smartass reply to the wrong post.
Now I'm afraid to take that new intelligence test.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
WHO==U.N.==SOCIALISM==COMMUNISM
Sure, maybe IP is *interfering* with scientific research in this case, but so what? If you take down the IP and interfering with corporations maximizing their profit, no one will be motivated to do anything. We'll all just loll around , (if they're people like me) staring at our navel disinterested in the world (if they're people like me) ....We'll be like Old Sick Europe . Then where will ALL of science be? Do you think people are motivated by the mere chance to relieve human suffering ? Do my whores fuck me because they love me???? We need REAL motivation !!!!!
What's your value system here? Is science for the betterment of mankind , to save human lives and advance the general welfare of people or is its primary purpose to make money for people with money so they'll go on doing science ?
COIMMUNIST! I SMELL A COMMUNIST!!!!
If the IP system is pared back, then all progress will cease.
It means someone else got "the scoop," the big story. It's bad grammar (turning a verb into a noun and back into a verb), which may explain some of the confusion. Scientists or news reporters are said to get scooped when they've been working on a project/story and then someone else publishes the same thing before they do and steals all the attention.
The idea that scientists are under pressure to be first depresses me. Proper science requires a lot of thought and attention to detail, and to rush the process threatens its integrity.
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
In the western world we tend to perceive corruption as simple bribery. In my opinion, this thinking is way to narrow - but it keeps us in a kind of comfort zone, that in western world we have much less corruption than anywhere else. BUT if we add regulatory capture and start measuring corruption (simple bribery plus regulatory capture) in terms of human costs, world starts to look totally different. Broken intellectual property law - in this case hindering efforts to fight off a (potentially) deadly virus - is one of many examples of this. I'd rather call it legalized corruption than involve in debating rights and wrongs of this particular (narrow) issue. The same with patented cancer genes, software patents, financial institutions being out of control, monsanto force-feeding us with their toxic crap, legalized tax evasion etc. All those things are legal! Yet until we won't recognize this as ("legalized") corruption, these things won't be solved as root cause of all of this (regulatory capture) will still be there. It will cost us money, health and ultimately lives until we recognize that western countries - especially US - are propably the most corrupt ones in the world just because of sheer scale of this "legalized" corruption and its effects in terms of human costs. If you include all those banana republics we (western countries) imposed corrupt broken regimes just to steal their wealth, the whole picture looks even more grim. Stop debating rights and wrongs of narrow issues - it plays well to the hand of our corrupt corporate overlords. Get up and start fighting corruption in all its forms, including "legalized" one.
They own it? Then they should have it, in their blood. Then we could discuss if we want to cure them or not, after all, we don't want to harm their intellectual property.
That clean water, sanitation, and better nutrition have had a larger role doesn't say anything about the efficacy of vaccines. It's basically an application of the 80/20 principle. That doesn't mean that we don't need vaccines. It does mean that improving the infrastructure of less developed nations is generally more efficient than passing out vaccines. However, there are some exceptions, particularly in regards to eradication. Completely ridding ourselves of polio would totally stop it forever.
This is my signature. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
I know Slashdot is a US centric site but please remember that there are many non-native-US-English speakers reading it as well. I'm a native English speaker but I don't know what "scooped" means in the context of TFS.
The term scooped means "first one to get the credit for a discovery". It's usually used in the context of journalism, but the term still works in this case.
It's just like when French scientists first discovered the HIV virus (or so they claim). They mailed their blood samples to American scientists so the American scientists could confirm their findings and replicate their results, but the exact same American scientists who received those samples and the methodology the French scientists used, just used the same samples and ended up publishing the same results -- claiming the original discovery for themselves (at least, that's the story being told from the French side).
It's not just a question of ownership, although that's a part of it too, it's also a question of who gets the original credit (or shared credit) for the discovery (since that also determines who ends up getting mountains of public funding and/or royalties). And even public institutions are capable of stealing credit even if there are no patents/royalties involved, since reputation and public funding are just as important to them (as profits are to a private corporation).
If I own a bull, and this bull gets loose in a china shop, I'm liable. Why should intellectual property be any different?
If you own a gene, and a virus is using that gene to kill people, well, it's your duty to stop that virus doing what it's doing, and if you don't, expect to pay damages!
(But somehow I don't think the champions of intellectual property want the property metaphor to extend that far.)
xkcd is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.
Then I think they should be charged with 22 cases of murder. It might not be murder 1, but manslaughter.
If you want to 'own' this virus, you get to 'own' the consequences. Corporations are people. Some places have the death penalty for people who commit crimes.
Sounds like another issue of national security to me. So they could just take it away if it isn't offered.
"The Adobe Updater must update itself before it can check for updates. Would you like to update the Adobe Updater now?"
It's getting ridiculous, ....
Bill Clinton didn't know what the definition of "is" is.
Really? I thought he was best known for being unclear as to what constitutes "sexual relations".
If God forks the Universe every time you roll a die, he'd better have a damned good memory.
Why not, it's the same reasoning. 'gas' from 'gasoline' vs 'petrol' from 'petroleum'. And 'gas' is one syllable vs 'petrol' which is two.
[John]
Shit better not happen!
Gas is slang and short for Gasoline, that stuff you might fill up your car with. Petrol is also slang for Gasoline but is short for Petroleum which makes it ambiguous as to whether you are speaking of Crude Oil or any other refined fuels.
"The Adobe Updater must update itself before it can check for updates. Would you like to update the Adobe Updater now?"
The government can't take property (including intellectual property) pursuant to the TAKINGS clause of the US Constitution without paying just compensation.
The government can take property (including intellectual property) pursuant to the POLICE POWER clause of the US Constitution without paying just compensation.
If the public need for an antivirus is strong enough, I say pass police power legislation relating to the public health that frees up the scientific field of research.
If pharmaceutical companies are going to behave like pigs at the trough, then screw them.
http://wh.gov/hrbB
Let's turn our swords into plowshares and grab all those patents for the public domain.
Nobody gives half a shit. The term is 140 years old and is not simply an American term (though it was coined here).
Enjoy your expanded vocabulary. At least it isn't some godawful full-retard work like gaol, or some fucking Australian throwing rhyming slang that can't be deduced without knowing the generations-past pop culture reference it was originally based upon.
... still waiting for this free-as-in-beer free beer I keep hearing about.
I knew when Microsoft and Novel signed that patent cross-licensing deal they were up to no good! Who knew they were working on a Novel virus?
They are murderers.
Hey, if you can equate copyright infringement to theft, you can draw the same comparison between willfully withholding information and murder.
Because we all know that in reality corporations are actually paragons or morality [/sarcasm]
Corporations are evil in the same sense that sociopaths are, the benefit or harm they do unto others is inconsequential so long as they get what they want. (which in the case of corporations is money, ROI, and market share)
We have the same sort of problems here in Canada.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go find a serviette, I seem to have spilled some poutine on the chesterfield.
This is why patent laws should be reformed to specify that a patent applies to something that was invented/created by a person(s) or company, not discovered.
No where in any of this is there actually a single reference to a single IP, person, or company that is interfering with research.
I agree, it is entirely unclear from the article whether any IP claims have been put forth, or if this is some kind of pre-emptive action. I think gene patents are truly evil, and pharma companies can be truly sleazy at times, but I'd like to see some actual evidence before pointing fingers in this case.
The novel coronoavirus are deadly, we know that
What we did not know --- and thanks to the IP-scandal, now we know --- is how deadly the lawyers are
The outbreak of this novel coronavirus is at least (so far) somewhat contained --- what I am afraid is, and what all others should too, is that, next time, when there is an outbreak of a far more virulent virus, which spread very fast worldwide, will the world still allowing these deadly lawyers ram their law books into the medical research labs ?
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
I must be missing something, as it has been a while since I've attempted to read the MPEP, but...when did we start patenting viruses? Last I checked, biotechnology patents related to genes were limited to patents on implementations on finding a gene...
I am John Hurt.
truck through history rather meant: “to fail, run short, deceive, disappoint”, “to fail, miss, lack”, “to tear, wrap, reap”, “to flay, split”, “to cheat, deceive, swindle”, “to extort”, “to flatter, fawn”. ;)
Quite fitting when you consider the current quality and cost of American made trucks now days...
IIRC he asked them to define everything.
So can anyone actually tell me what the actual IP problem is here? That is, who precisely is making claims that are preventing needed research, and what is the nature of those claims? The BBC article linked in the summary is notably weak on these details, so it's hard to judge the true seriousness of the problem, if problem there be.
Thats wicked. Evil. What is the company that digs this grave?
I think OP means the trash chutes that used to be present in some old buildings. These chutes had openings every other floor so that people living on higher floors didn't need to take their garbage down some 8 floors or more (no elevators in these old buildings). People could just throw their trash bags down the chutes and they would collect in a bin at the bottom. It was believed that the accelerated spread of the virus was caused by contaminated garbage that stuck to the side walls of these chutes (since they were not cleaned). During and after the SARS breakout, most of these chutes were permanently sealed. So just to clarify, these were not INSIDE rooms, more like there might have been contaminated trash chute openings at most on every other floor and in the corridors not rooms themselves.
how about sueing the company which claim to have ip about the virus, as they claim it's theirs, so they are therefor responsible for it, which makes them liable for any result the virus brings....