No, it is perfectly legal, because it's in perfect compliance with the TRIPS agreement - a WTO treaty - permitting compulsory licensing of medications under public health grounds. They're not taking away any rights, they're simply exercising their right to force a compulsory license at what they see as a reasonable royalty rate. Bayer also has the right to appeal that rate (but not the license itself) in Indian courts if it feels that it should really be getting paid more. Frankly though, they are unlikely to do this as they get the best of both worlds through this process - they sell to people who otherwise wouldn't get access to the drug (more $$$) and because it was government action not voluntary price discrimination, it won't affect pricing in developed countries.
It's not theft, it's perfectly legal, and imposing sanctions against them for their action would be illegal. Those are the WTO rules (and swathes of treaties).
This is completely incorrect. India is a signatory to the TRIPS agreement, which explicitly permits compulsory licensing of medications where public health interests prevail such as in this case. Bayer has no legal remedy apart from appealing (in Indian courts) India's determination of what is a reasonable royalty rate.
There will be no retribution. The Indian government acted in full accordance with TRIPS, which means this action is fully legal. Sanctioning India would violate WTO regulations and likely expose the sanctioning country to sanctions in response.
That war does exist. It's called TPPA negotiations. The US government is trying to remove the provisions allowing this sort of thing on behalf of their parent companies (the US government is a subsidiary right?)
Actually, TRIPS allows a country without manufacturing capacity to issue compulsory licensing to a foreign manufacturer provided it's not exported outside of the country granting the license too.
What the fuck are you talking about? The Indian government isn't stealing a cent from Bayer - as Slashdot readers are wont to constantly remind us in any story about how pirates are "stealing" billions from the record industry per year.
Besides, under the TRIPS agreement, this is perfectly legal. By law, Bayer must have the right to appeal (in India) the determination of what is adequate payment for royalties, but ultimately it is up to the Indian government to decide what the adequate royalty payment is. Other than appealing (and at best getting a slightly higher royalty rate) Bayer has absolutely no course of action available to it.
Drug companies have zero motivation to cure illnesses. They are motivated to treat the symptoms of illnesses, and extend the lives of those people who have them while still not treating the illness itself.
4. Doubtful. No company sells at a loss. Bayer would just avoid India completely, and not release their patented drugs until 10-20 years later (after they recover their initial R&D investment).
No they won't. In fact, India is where all the American pharma companies send their drugs to be mass produced. You'll probably find that the company that is licensing the drug is the same one that has been producing the branded version for Bayer. And regardless, the Indian company can just look at the patent, and reverse engineer it (since legally the patent must be sufficiently detailed to allow someone in the field to recreate it).
No, Blu-ray was the inferior format. Why, HD-DVD didn't even support region coding. The DRM was half-assed at best, which makes it technically superior by definition.
That's laughable. Oracle is widely touted as being among the most evil companies out there (crappy overpriced products, and constant acquisition of companies in order to destroy their products or litigate a competitor, read Android). And IBM frankly doesn't give a crap what the general public thinks of them, they only care what the enterprise thinks of them.
Interesting. Where I come from starting a business is one of the riskiest things you can do - every single supplier demands a personal guarantee against any credit extended to the company, and if the company fails to pay the bills (e.g. it can't) then those creditors go after the business owner's assets instead. One wrong move starting a business here and you yourself could become bankrupt. Oh, and if it's found the company collapsed due to mismanagement then the government basically sweeps aside the corporate veil and crushes the directors. Even riskier for finance companies, where the government will crush the directors with fines in the millions, and include jail time for good measure.
And it's routed by SMSCs that the carrier had to install at massive expense, across inter-network links which the carrier has to pay per message for, to other SMSCs that the other carrier had to install at massive expense, plus a ton of supporting infrastructure in the middle which both carriers had to install at massive expense. None of which would be necessary if text messages weren't around.
Well I emailed the publisher and they said that they've notified all suppliers and will send me a reprint in 21 days. So I suppose publishers are good for something - would that sort of supply chain response be possible without massive scale? No idea.
Right, well I'm not going to bother arguing with you. You've clearly decided that it's some sort of conspiracy to extract more money so there's no point trying to make you see reason.
That person is incorrect - even with Desktop Experience, it would run like ass over Terminal Server (which would be the only legal way to provide access), and most games refuse to install on Server SKUs anyway - even if you could get the full DirectX runtime installed (which is challenging by the way).
Slashdot Mirror
It's almost like you only read the first three lines...
No, it is perfectly legal, because it's in perfect compliance with the TRIPS agreement - a WTO treaty - permitting compulsory licensing of medications under public health grounds. They're not taking away any rights, they're simply exercising their right to force a compulsory license at what they see as a reasonable royalty rate. Bayer also has the right to appeal that rate (but not the license itself) in Indian courts if it feels that it should really be getting paid more. Frankly though, they are unlikely to do this as they get the best of both worlds through this process - they sell to people who otherwise wouldn't get access to the drug (more $$$) and because it was government action not voluntary price discrimination, it won't affect pricing in developed countries.
IBM won't lend them their legal team though, so that can't happen.
Face it, your argument is specious, and incorrect. They are not stealing anything. Especially since their action is completely legal.
Are you suggesting that the short-sightedness of corporate boards is actually beneficial?
It's not theft, it's perfectly legal, and imposing sanctions against them for their action would be illegal. Those are the WTO rules (and swathes of treaties).
And they would quite rightly be charged with thousands of counts of assault and/or murder. Your idea is even dumber than their pricing model.
This is completely incorrect. India is a signatory to the TRIPS agreement, which explicitly permits compulsory licensing of medications where public health interests prevail such as in this case. Bayer has no legal remedy apart from appealing (in Indian courts) India's determination of what is a reasonable royalty rate.
Not all the money. Compulsory licensing still requires that a royalty be paid, just that the local authorities decide what is a reasonable payment.
There will be no retribution. The Indian government acted in full accordance with TRIPS, which means this action is fully legal. Sanctioning India would violate WTO regulations and likely expose the sanctioning country to sanctions in response.
That war does exist. It's called TPPA negotiations. The US government is trying to remove the provisions allowing this sort of thing on behalf of their parent companies (the US government is a subsidiary right?)
Actually, TRIPS allows a country without manufacturing capacity to issue compulsory licensing to a foreign manufacturer provided it's not exported outside of the country granting the license too.
Of course TPPA will make that effectively illegal. Fucking USA.
What the fuck are you talking about? The Indian government isn't stealing a cent from Bayer - as Slashdot readers are wont to constantly remind us in any story about how pirates are "stealing" billions from the record industry per year.
Besides, under the TRIPS agreement, this is perfectly legal. By law, Bayer must have the right to appeal (in India) the determination of what is adequate payment for royalties, but ultimately it is up to the Indian government to decide what the adequate royalty payment is. Other than appealing (and at best getting a slightly higher royalty rate) Bayer has absolutely no course of action available to it.
Drug companies have zero motivation to cure illnesses. They are motivated to treat the symptoms of illnesses, and extend the lives of those people who have them while still not treating the illness itself.
4. Doubtful. No company sells at a loss. Bayer would just avoid India completely, and not release their patented drugs until 10-20 years later (after they recover their initial R&D investment).
No they won't. In fact, India is where all the American pharma companies send their drugs to be mass produced. You'll probably find that the company that is licensing the drug is the same one that has been producing the branded version for Bayer. And regardless, the Indian company can just look at the patent, and reverse engineer it (since legally the patent must be sufficiently detailed to allow someone in the field to recreate it).
No, Blu-ray was the inferior format. Why, HD-DVD didn't even support region coding. The DRM was half-assed at best, which makes it technically superior by definition.
That's laughable. Oracle is widely touted as being among the most evil companies out there (crappy overpriced products, and constant acquisition of companies in order to destroy their products or litigate a competitor, read Android). And IBM frankly doesn't give a crap what the general public thinks of them, they only care what the enterprise thinks of them.
Interesting. Where I come from starting a business is one of the riskiest things you can do - every single supplier demands a personal guarantee against any credit extended to the company, and if the company fails to pay the bills (e.g. it can't) then those creditors go after the business owner's assets instead. One wrong move starting a business here and you yourself could become bankrupt. Oh, and if it's found the company collapsed due to mismanagement then the government basically sweeps aside the corporate veil and crushes the directors. Even riskier for finance companies, where the government will crush the directors with fines in the millions, and include jail time for good measure.
A cheap ripoff of Fruit Ninja. Hardly a good example in opposition of his point.
And it's routed by SMSCs that the carrier had to install at massive expense, across inter-network links which the carrier has to pay per message for, to other SMSCs that the other carrier had to install at massive expense, plus a ton of supporting infrastructure in the middle which both carriers had to install at massive expense. None of which would be necessary if text messages weren't around.
I.e., literally something.
Well I emailed the publisher and they said that they've notified all suppliers and will send me a reprint in 21 days. So I suppose publishers are good for something - would that sort of supply chain response be possible without massive scale? No idea.
Right, well I'm not going to bother arguing with you. You've clearly decided that it's some sort of conspiracy to extract more money so there's no point trying to make you see reason.
That person is incorrect - even with Desktop Experience, it would run like ass over Terminal Server (which would be the only legal way to provide access), and most games refuse to install on Server SKUs anyway - even if you could get the full DirectX runtime installed (which is challenging by the way).
Wow, lots of empirical evidence there.
Plural of anecdote is not data.