Patent/ Intellectual Property IP

=<div>see proprietary trade secret ~ transparency</div><div>
</div><div>see covid patent
<div><div></div><div>===an 1 23
U.S.-based pharmaceutical giant Pfizer <a href="https://investors.pfizer.com/Investors/News/news-details/2023/PFIZER-REPORTS-RECORD-FULL-YEAR-2022-RESULTS-AND-PROVIDES-FULL-YEAR-2023-FINANCIAL-GUIDANCE/default.aspx" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">reported</a>

Tuesday that it brought in a record-breaking $100.3 billion in revenue

in 2022 and $31.4 billion in profit, sums that campaigners decried as

"sickening" in the face of an ongoing pandemic and persistent inequities

in coronavirus vaccine access."In one year alone, Pfizer's

revenue has exceeded the total health expenditures of more than 100

countries combined," Julia Kosgei, policy co-lead for the People's

Vaccine Alliance, said in a statement. "If it were a country, Pfizer

would sit in the wealthiest third of nation-states. And it has amassed

this fortune while jacking up prices on Covid-19 vaccines amid a

pandemic that has devastated people’s livelihoods. Put simply, Pfizer

has plundered health systems for profit."Pfizer, led by CEO

Albert Bourla, is the manufacturer of one of the two available mRNA

vaccines for Covid-19, as well as the oral coronavirus treatment

Paxlovid. The company reported $56 billion in sales of its Covid-19

vaccine and Paxlovid, though it said it expects sales to drop in the

coming year as it <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/10/21/daylight-robbery-pfizer-condemned-hiking-us-covid-vaccine-price-10000-above-cost" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">moves to hike prices</a> significantly on its vaccine—a plan that has drawn <a href="https://twitter.com/CarolineLucas/status/1620349963195805699" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">international alarm and outrage</a>.Globally, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/world/covid-cases.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">more than 2,600 people</a> are dying from Covid-19 each day on average. <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">According to</a>

Our World in Data, just over 26% of people in low-income nations have

received at least one coronavirus vaccine dose as Pfizer and other

pharmaceutical giants refuse to make their vaccine technology available

to all—even though it was developed with the help of government funding

and <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/08/24/doctors-without-borders-pfizer-share-vaccine-recipe-world" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">scientific advancements</a>."Billions

of people in developing countries still cannot access affordable

Covid-19 medicines," said Kosgei. "Companies like Pfizer are gobbling up

ever-greater proportions of health budgets and handing the spoils to

wealthy shareholders—all while treating access for developing countries

as little more than a PR initiative. We cannot go on like this."The U.K.-based advocacy group Global Justice Now called Pfizer's record earnings report "sickening.""With

this latest 'all-time high' announcement, Pfizer now has revenues

higher than the GDP of 133 countries, including 8 E.U. member states,

and is the first pharma company ever to make $100 billion in a year,"

noted Tim Bierley, the group's pharma campaigner. "But not content with

doubling its revenues with a pandemic windfall, they are now still

moving to aggressively hike the price of Covid-19 booster doses, putting

even more pressure on already struggling public health systems.""Their

latest record-breaking revenues are further proof that the company

treated the pandemic as an opportunity to enrich its shareholders,"

Bierley added. "We can't allow Big Pharma companies to hold us to ransom

in this way. We need the government to be bold and break with the

monopoly patent model that fails people everywhere. It's time to put

people's lives above corporate profit."Both Pfizer and Moderna

have signaled plans to raise the prices of their vaccines to somewhere

between $110 to $130 per dose in the U.S. as the Biden administration

moves ahead with the commercialization of coronavirus inoculations,

tests, and treatments—shifting costs onto patients and insurers and

leaving the <a href="https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/commercialization-of-covid-19-vaccines-treatments-and-tests-implications-for-access-and-coverage/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">uninsured</a> to shoulder significant payments.The U.S. government has previously paid around $30 per dose for Pfizer's vaccine.
In recent days, the Biden administration has faced <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/moderna-biden-price-hike" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">growing calls</a> to use the federal government's <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/03/26/coalition-calls-biden-use-us-owned-patent-share-covid-vaccine-world" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">ownership of key patents</a> and other leverage to force Moderna and Pfizer to make their vaccines affordable and readily available to all who want them."The

Biden administration should not allow Moderna to more than quadruple

the price of the Covid vaccine to $130 when it costs just $2.85 to

produce," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenSanders/status/1619826461413896192" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">tweeted</a> on Sunday. "The Covid vaccine must be used to save lives, not to further enrich the billionaire owners of Moderna."Moderna and Pfizer are also facing backlash from lawmakers overseas over their planned price increases.In a <a href="https://twitter.com/CarolineLucas/status/1620349963195805699/photo/1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">letter</a>

to Bourla and Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel on Tuesday, British MP

Caroline Lucas of the Green Party and three other lawmakers wrote that

with the National Health Service "already under significant pressure and

the costs of medicines increasing year on year, we are extremely

concerned about the multiple impacts of a possible price hike.""Throughout

its development, the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine received huge amounts of

public money and support internationally," the lawmakers wrote. "Even

the mRNA technology that Pfizer/BioNTech employed in the Covid-19

vaccine is rooted in decades of publicly funded research. A

people-funded vaccine should be cheap and freely available."<div>=</div>=
</div><div><a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/05/07/coronavirus-vaccine-drug-company-monopolies-brazil/">https://theintercept.com/2020/05/07/coronavirus-vaccine-drug-company-monopolies-brazil/</a></div><div>
</div><div>=</div></div><div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> 8 22</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/08/moderna-sues-two-competitors-vaccine/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.alternet.org/2022/08/moderna-sues-two-competitors-vaccine/</a></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div></div><div>=fight over GMO IP?!<div>an 822</div><div>A fledgling international effort to protect the world's oceans from further damage is "on the brink of failure," and the governments of wealthy countries are primarily to blame, Greenpeace International <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/international/press-release/55351/un-ocean-treaty-talks-set-to-fail-because-of-high-ambition-coalition/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">warned</a> Thursday.Diplomats gathered at the United Nations headquarters in New York City are nearing the end of the fifth and final round of <a href="https://www.un.org/bbnj/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">negotiations</a> on a much-needed pact to protect biodiversity in the "high seas"—a global commons comprising the two-thirds of the ocean that lie outside the jurisdiction of any single country and where legally binding regulations are virtually nonexistent.Conservationists have long hoped that the ongoing summit—<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/08/15/marine-life-defenders-say-un-talks-last-chance-global-ocean-treaty" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">described</a> by some as the "last chance" to forge a robust global ocean treaty—would lead to the establishment of "Marine Protected Areas" and rules mandating environmental assessments prior to deep-sea mining and other industrial activities.But a handful of mostly rich countries—including the United States, Canada, and members of the so-called <a href="https://oceans-and-fisheries.ec.europa.eu/ocean/international-ocean-governance/protecting-ocean-time-action_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0); color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">High Ambition Coalition on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction</a>—have derailed progress made on the text by prioritizing "hypothetical future profits" that could be derived from extracting <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.667274/full" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">marine genetic resources</a> over protecting aquatic species, according to Greenpeace."The oceans sustain all life on Earth, but the greed of a few countries means this round of talks for a U.N. ocean treaty are now set to fail," Laura Meller of Greenpeace's Protect the Oceans campaign said Thursday in a <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/international/press-release/55351/un-ocean-treaty-talks-set-to-fail-because-of-high-ambition-coalition/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">statement</a>. "The High Ambition Coalition has utterly failed. They should be the No Ambition Coalition."Members of the coalition have "obsessed over their hypothetical future profits, undermining all the other progress made at these talks," said Meller. "Unless ministers urgently pick up the phone today to their counterparts and hammer out a deal, this treaty process will fail."The health of the world's oceans, which cover roughly 70% of the Earth and are indispensible to life on the planet, has been rapidly <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/08/22/90-marine-species-face-extinction-under-emissions-status-quo-study" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">deteriorating</a> as a result of unmitigated <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/01/11/oceans-hotter-2021-any-time-recorded-history" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">greenhouse gas emissions</a>, surging <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/01/18/global-plastic-pollution-deadly-ticking-clock-report" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">plastic pollution</a>, and <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/06/28/un-chief-warns-ocean-emergency-leaders-confront-biodiversity-loss-pollution" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">overexploitation</a>.The high ambition coalition pledged earlier this year to finalize a treaty in 2022 that would protect 30% of the world's oceans by 2030, but the proposed text is "lowering its ambition by the minute," said Greenpeace."Less than two months ago I was in Lisbon, at the U.N. Ocean Conference, listening to these leaders promise they would deliver a strong global ocean treaty this year," said Meller. "Now we are in New York and the leaders are nowhere to be found. They've broken their promises.""We are sad and angry," Meller continued. "Billions of people rely on healthy oceans, and world leaders have failed all of them.""It now looks like protecting 30% of the world's oceans [by 2030] will be impossible," she added. "Scientists say this is the absolute minimum necessary to protect the oceans, and failure at these talks will jeopardize the livelihoods and food security of billions. We're beyond disappointed."Greenpeace also accused rich nations of taking "an unfair and neocolonial approach by refusing to commit any finance for the benefit of all countries."The refusal of the U.S., Canada, and others to provide funding "will stop a treaty from being agreed here," the group added. "With talks set to fail, countries must now take urgent action, show flexibility, and find compromise to deliver a strong treaty text" by Friday.</div><div>=</div></div><div><div>=</div><div>GMU LEC boatloads of pharma cash b/c</div><div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">Founded in 2012, the Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property (CPIP) is a catalyst for research on a “property rights” approach to intellectual property through a national network of scholars and the hosting of numerous programs and conferences. CPIP’s Executive Director is Professor Sean O’Connor who recently joined Scalia Law from the University of Washington School of Law where he was the Boeing International Professor of Law. Professor O'Connor comes to Scalia Law with a strong background in tech transfer and the business community.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div></div></div><div>=pharma  CORPS claim need massive profits for innovation but trump voodoo windfall went to stock buyback ceo bonus?<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022/02/pfizer/">https://www.alternet.org/2022/02/pfizer/</a>public R&Dprofiteer, someone's mrna vacc reverse engr from open records? but still need license?!=</div><div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/vaccine/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/vaccine/</a></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">comm dr</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">While global health advocates applauded the Biden administration's recent <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/05/05/transformative-hopeful-event-under-pressure-biden-backs-covid-19-vaccine-patent" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">decision</a> to support waiving intellectual property protections for Covid-19 vaccines as <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2021/05/05/biden-administration-support-trips-waiver-critical-first-step-more-must-be-done" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">"critical,"</a> <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2021/05/05/bidens-trips-waiver-decision-transformative-hopeful-event" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">"transformative,"</a> and <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2021/05/05/bidens-support-trips-waiver-unquestionably-right-thing-do" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">"unquestionably the right thing to do,"</a> Big Pharma took a decidedly less optimistic view of the move and has been hard at work behind the scenes in a bid to thwart the policy, a <a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/05/14/covid-vaccine-waiver-generic-phrma-lobby/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">report</a> published Friday by The Intercept revealed.In a bid to stymie U.S. support for a proposal by India and South Africa to enact a Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver at the World Trade Organization (WTO), the pharmaceutical industry is "distributing talking points, organizing opposition, and even collecting congressional signatures in an attempt to reverse President Joe Biden's support for worldwide access to generic Covid-19 vaccines," according to The Intercept's Lee Fang.Fang obtained an email from Jared Michaud, a lobbyist with the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA)—a trade group whose clients include vaccine developers AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, and Pfizer—describing how Big Pharma and sympathetic U.S. legislators are pushing lawmakers to oppose a TRIPS waiver.The email explains that Reps. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) and Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) are leading an unreleased letter to Biden—which currently has 29 co-signers—"expressing concerns with the administration's support for waiving IP protections related to Covid-19 vaccines under the WTO TRIPS waiver.""We urge you to contact offices and ask them to sign onto this letter," said Michaud's email....</div></div><div>=<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/bill-gates-vaccine-india/">https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/bill-gates-vaccine-india/</a>globetrotterWhile the incompetence of the Indian government is starkly visible in its handling of the second wave of the COVID-19 crisis, its performance has been far worse on the vaccine front. The BJP-led government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which seems to believe in the ideology of free-market capitalism, thinks that the market will magically produce the number of vaccines the country needs. This would explain why it has starved <a href="https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/health/covid-19-vaccines-waiting-for-advantage-india-76543" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">seven public sector vaccine manufacturing units</a>—according to an April 17 article in Down to Earth—of any support instead of ramping up much-needed vaccine production.
The rights to produce the public sector vaccine, <a href="https://www.icmr.gov.in/pdf/press_realease_files/Press_Release_ICMR_03_March_2021.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Covaxin, which has been developed by </a><a href="https://www.icmr.gov.in/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">the Indian Council of Medical Research</a><a href="https://www.icmr.gov.in/pdf/press_realease_files/Press_Release_ICMR_03_March_2021.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;"> (ICMR) and National Institute of Virology (NIV)</a>, in collaboration with Bharat Biotech, have been given to the private company partner on an exclusive basis. The Indian government also believed that Serum Institute of India, another private sector company and the world's largest vaccine manufacturer, which has tied up with AstraZeneca for producing <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/22/covid-19-vaccine-serum-institute-of-india-told-to-prioritize-domestic-demand.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Covishield</a>, would make vaccines according to the country's requirements without any prior orders or capital support. The government did not even see the necessity to intervene and prevent India's new Quad ally, the U.S., from stopping sending India supplies of the <a href="https://www.livemint.com/news/india/serum-institute-seeks-govt-s-intervention-over-import-of-covid-vaccine-raw-material-from-us-11615213128160.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">required raw materials</a> needed by India for manufacturing vaccines.The sheer negligence by the government is further highlighted by the fact that even though India has <a href="https://cdsco.gov.in/opencms/export/sites/CDSCO_WEB/Pdf-documents/biologicals/facilitiesLIST.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">about 20 licensed manufacturing facilities for vaccines</a> and <a href="https://birac.nic.in/webcontent/Knowledge_Paper_Clarivate_ABLE_BIO_2019.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">30 biologic manufacturers</a>, all of which could have been harnessed for vaccine manufacturing, only two companies are presently producing vaccines. That too is at a pace completely <a href="https://www.newsclick.in/understanding-wide-gap-india-need-supply-covid-vaccines" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">inadequate for India's needs</a>.India has a long history of vaccine development, which can be traced back to the <a href="https://tinyurl.com/5fu3czcw" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Haffkine Institute for Training, Research and Testing</a>, in Mumbai, in the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4078488/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">1920s</a>. With the Patents Act, 1970 and the reverse engineering of drugs by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) laboratories, the country also broke the monopoly of global multinationals. <a href="https://www.newsclick.in/The-Untold-Story-Left-Indian-Science" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">It is this change, fought for by the Left</a>, that led to India emerging as the largest generic supplier of drugs and vaccines in the world and becoming the global pharmacy of the poor.Bill Gates recently <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-bill-gates-hopeful-world-completely-back-to-normal-by-end-of-2022-and-vaccine-sharing-to-ramp-up-12285840" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">spoke to Sky News</a> in the UK regarding India and South Africa's <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/india-south-africa-to-make-fresh-push-for-waiver-of-vaccine-patents-at-wto-101619886294125.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">proposal</a> to the World Trade Organization on the need to lift intellectual property (IP) protection for COVID-19 vaccines and medicines during the pandemic. Gates claimed that IP is not the issue and that "moving a vaccine… into a factory in India… It's only because of our grants and our expertise that can happen at all." In other words, without the white man coming in to tell India and other middle-income countries how to make vaccines and provide them with his money, these countries would not be able to make vaccines on their own.This is a rehash of the AIDS debate, where the Western governments and Big Pharma argued that developing <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/feb/22/hiv-aids-deaths-pharmaceutical-industry" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">generic</a> AIDS drugs would lead to the manufacturing of poor-quality drugs and theft of Western intellectual property. Bill Gates, who built his <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/how-rich-would-bill-gates-be-without-his-copyright_b_59642f89e4b0deab7c646b4d" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">fortune on Microsoft's IP</a>, is the leading defender of IP in the world. With his newfound halo as a great philanthropist, he is leading <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/162000/bill-gates-impeded-global-access-covid-vaccines" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Big Pharma's charge against the weakening of patents</a> on the global stage. The role of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/who-funds-world-health-organization-un-coronavirus-pandemic-covid-trump/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">major</a> funder of the World Health Organization, is also to dilute any move by the WHO to <a href="https://healthpolicy-watch.news/gates-foundation-address-systemic-covid-19/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">share patents and knowledge</a> during the pandemic.Indian companies are the largest manufacturers of existing vaccines by volume in the world, according to the <a href="https://www.who.int/immunization/programmes_systems/procurement/mi4a/platform/module2/2020_Global_Vaccine_Market_Report.pdf?ua=1#:_{:text=Global%20Market%20Value.,Key%20observations%20this%20year%20include%3A&text=2020%20country%20reporting%20of%20data,183%20and%20159%20last%20year.}" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">WHO's Global Vaccine Market Report 2020</a>. When it comes to measuring vaccine manufacturing by value, however, the global share held by multinational corporations or Big Pharma is much bigger than that of India. For example, as per the WHO report, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), with 11 percent of the global market by volume, generates 40 percent of the market by value, while Serum Institute with 28 percent of the market by volume has only 3 percent of the market by value. This shows that the patent-protected vaccines with monopoly pricing get much higher prices. This is the model that Bill Gates and his ilk are selling. Let Big Pharma make the big bucks even if it bankrupts the poorer countries. The Western philanthropic money of Gates and Warren Buffett will 'help' the poor Third World to get some vaccines, albeit slowly. As long as they get to call the shots.The Modi government's approach to vaccines is based on the central pillar of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ideology—which serves as the ideological parent of the ruling BJP—that the task of the state is only to help big capital. Anything else including planning is seen by the right wing as socialism. In the case of vaccines, it means not to make any attempt to get the companies, both in the public and private sectors, to make necessary preparations for a quick vaccination program: to put in the money and provide the necessary supply chain. Instead, the government believed that India's private pharmaceutical industry would do all of this on its own.It forgot that the Indian pharmaceutical industry was the <a href="https://mayday.leftword.com/catalog/product/view/id/22190/s/political-journeys-in-health/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">product of public domain science</a>—the CSIR institutions—the public sector and nationalist companies like Cipla. They all came out of the national movement and built India's pharmaceutical industry. It is institutions like the Haffkine Institute under <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahib_Singh_Sokhey" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Sahib Sokhey's</a> leadership and the <a href="https://www.ccmb.res.in/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology</a> (CCMB) built under the leadership of <a href="https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/science-technology/obituary-pushpa-mittra-bhargava-conscientious-scientist-and-advocate-of-scientific-temper-58382" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Dr. Pushpa Bhargava</a> that led to India's vaccine and biologics capacity. It is on this base that India's vaccine manufacturing capacity rests.It is not niji (private) companies that built the vaccine capacity in India, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi claims. The private sector companies rode on the back of public sector science and technology that was built in the country between the 1950s and the 1990s.The Indian government recently opened up vaccinations for all <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/from-may-1-everyone-over-18-years-eligible-for-covid-19-vaccination-government/article34359940.ece" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">adults</a> in the country on May 1. To vaccinate all the eligible population—above 18 years of age—India would require <a href="https://www.newsclick.in/understanding-wide-gap-india-need-supply-covid-vaccines" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">about 2 billion doses of the vaccine</a> in order to give the required two shots per person. To plan for the production of an order of this size, apart from technology and capital support, India also needs to plan for the complex supply chain that is required for production. This includes raw materials and intermediate supplies such as filters and special bags. There are at least 37 "<a href="https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2021/04/22/american-export-controls-threaten-to-hinder-global-vaccine-production" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">critical items</a>" that are currently embargoed by the U.S. from exports under the Defense Production Act, 1950, a relic of the U.S.'s Korean War....</div><div>=almost 150 health and poverty activist campaigns, including <a href="https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/" target="blank" rel="follow noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">Médecins Sans Frontières</a>, have urged <a href="https://www.gilead.com/" target="blank" rel="follow noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none;">Gilead Sciences</a> to waive patent and exclusivity rights for potential COVID-19 treatment remdesivir.
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remdesivir">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remdesivir</a></div><div>
<div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">an 320</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/the-martin-shkreli-of-the-pandemic-company-threatens-to-sue-after-italians-find-way-to-3d-print-key-11000-ventilator-piece-for-1/" rel="bookmark" title="‘The Martin Shkreli of the pandemic’: Company threatens to sue after Italians find way to 3D print key $11,000 Ventilator piece for $1" open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" px="px" font-weight="font-weight" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" color="color" important="important" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">Martin Shkreli of the pandemic’: Company threatens to sue after Italians find way to 3D print key $11,000 Ventilator piece for $1</a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div></div><div>
<div>Corporate “repair prevention” schemes steal the right to fix our own belongings</div><div><a href="https://hightowerlowdown.org/article/right-to-repair/">
</a></div><div><a href="https://hightowerlowdown.org/article/right-to-repair/">https://hightowerlowdown.org/article/right-to-repair/</a></div><div>=</div><div>myat @ museum</div><div>edison sues lemley 200x times, lemly in NY (near broadway, hires pickford)  buys euro gear, defects to Hollywood, later merge to universal</div><div></div><div>619 sci mag</div><div>d<a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6445/1017" class="highwire-cite-linked-title" data-icon-position="" data-hide-link-title="0" style="font-family: " roboto="Roboto" condensed="Condensed" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" rem="rem" box-sizing="box-sizing" inherit="inherit" color="color" gray="gray" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" outline="outline" px="px" /><div class="highwire-cite-title mediaheadlinetitle" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline !important;"><a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6445/1017" 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condensed="Condensed" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" rem="rem" box-sizing="box-sizing" inherit="inherit" color="color" gray="gray" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" outline="outline" px="px" /><a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6445/1017" class="highwire-cite-linked-title" data-icon-position="" data-hide-link-title="0" style="font-family: " roboto="Roboto" condensed="Condensed" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" rem="rem" box-sizing="box-sizing" inherit="inherit" color="color" gray="gray" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" outline="outline" px="px" /><a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6445/1017" class="highwire-cite-linked-title" data-icon-position="" data-hide-link-title="0" style="font-family: " roboto="Roboto" condensed="Condensed" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" rem="rem" box-sizing="box-sizing" inherit="inherit" color="color" gray="gray" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" outline="outline" px="px" /><a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6445/1017" class="highwire-cite-linked-title" data-icon-position="" data-hide-link-title="0" style="font-family: " roboto="Roboto" condensed="Condensed" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" rem="rem" box-sizing="box-sizing" inherit="inherit" color="color" gray="gray" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" outline="outline" px="px" /><a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6445/1017" class="highwire-cite-linked-title" data-icon-position="" data-hide-link-title="0" style="font-family: " roboto="Roboto" condensed="Condensed" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" rem="rem" box-sizing="box-sizing" inherit="inherit" color="color" gray="gray" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" outline="outline" px="px" /><a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6445/1017" class="highwire-cite-linked-title" data-icon-position="" data-hide-link-title="0" style="font-family: " roboto="Roboto" condensed="Condensed" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" rem="rem" box-sizing="box-sizing" inherit="inherit" color="color" gray="gray" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" outline="outline" px="px" /><a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6445/1017" class="highwire-cite-linked-title" data-icon-position="" data-hide-link-title="0" style="font-family: " roboto="Roboto" condensed="Condensed" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" rem="rem" box-sizing="box-sizing" inherit="inherit" color="color" gray="gray" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" outline="outline" px="px" /><a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6445/1017" class="highwire-cite-linked-title" data-icon-position="" data-hide-link-title="0" style="font-family: " roboto="Roboto" condensed="Condensed" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" rem="rem" box-sizing="box-sizing" inherit="inherit" color="color" gray="gray" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" outline="outline" px="px" /><a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6445/1017" class="highwire-cite-linked-title" data-icon-position="" data-hide-link-title="0" style="font-family: " roboto="Roboto" condensed="Condensed" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" rem="rem" box-sizing="box-sizing" inherit="inherit" color="color" gray="gray" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" outline="outline" px="px" /><a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6445/1017" class="highwire-cite-linked-title" data-icon-position="" data-hide-link-title="0" style="font-family: " roboto="Roboto" condensed="Condensed" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" rem="rem" box-sizing="box-sizing" inherit="inherit" color="color" gray="gray" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" outline="outline" px="px" /><a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6445/1017" class="highwire-cite-linked-title" data-icon-position="" data-hide-link-title="0" style="font-family: " roboto="Roboto" condensed="Condensed" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" rem="rem" box-sizing="box-sizing" inherit="inherit" color="color" gray="gray" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" outline="outline" px="px" /><a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6445/1017" class="highwire-cite-linked-title" data-icon-position="" data-hide-link-title="0" style="font-family: " roboto="Roboto" condensed="Condensed" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" rem="rem" box-sizing="box-sizing" inherit="inherit" color="color" gray="gray" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" outline="outline" px="px" /><a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6445/1017" class="highwire-cite-linked-title" data-icon-position="" data-hide-link-title="0" style="font-family: " roboto="Roboto" condensed="Condensed" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" rem="rem" box-sizing="box-sizing" inherit="inherit" color="color" gray="gray" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" outline="outline" px="px" /><a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6445/1017" class="highwire-cite-linked-title" data-icon-position="" data-hide-link-title="0" style="font-family: " roboto="Roboto" condensed="Condensed" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" rem="rem" box-sizing="box-sizing" inherit="inherit" color="color" gray="gray" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" outline="outline" px="px" /><a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6445/1017" class="highwire-cite-linked-title" data-icon-position="" data-hide-link-title="0" style="font-family: " roboto="Roboto" condensed="Condensed" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" rem="rem" box-sizing="box-sizing" inherit="inherit" color="color" gray="gray" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" outline="outline" px="px" /><a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6445/1017" class="highwire-cite-linked-title" data-icon-position="" data-hide-link-title="0" style="font-family: " roboto="Roboto" condensed="Condensed" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" rem="rem" box-sizing="box-sizing" inherit="inherit" color="color" gray="gray" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" outline="outline" px="px">raft bill reignites U.S. debate over patenting human genes</a></div><p class="highwire-cite-authors byline" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; width: 694.781px; font-weight: bold; text-transform: uppercase;" roboto="Roboto" condensed="Condensed" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">BY KELLY SERVICK<p class="highwire-cite-metadata byline" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; width: 694.781px; font-weight: bold; text-transform: uppercase;" roboto="Roboto" condensed="Condensed" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">SCIENCE<time style="box-sizing: inherit; white-space: nowrap; border-left: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); margin-left: 7.5px; padding-left: 7.5px;">14 JUN 2019</time> : 1017 <span class="highwire-citation-access highwire-citation-access-check" data-pisa-id="sci;364/6445/1017" data-atom-uri="/sci/364/6445/1017.atom" data-request-view="full" style="box-sizing: inherit; white-space: nowrap; border-left: 1px solid rgb(102, 102, 102); margin-left: 7.5px; padding-left: 7.5px;"><span class="highwire-access-icon highwire-access-icon-no-access no-access fa fa-lock" title="Restricted Access" aria-hidden="true" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-weight: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1; text-rendering: auto; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; transform: translate(0px, 0px);"><span class="element-invisible highwire-access-icon highwire-access-icon-no-access" style="box-sizing: inherit; overflow: hidden; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px); position: absolute !important; width: 0px !important; height: 0px !important; max-width: 1px !important; max-height: 1px !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important;" /><div class="highwire-cite-snippet media__deck" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-top: 15px;" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><div class="highwire-markup" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="section precis" id="abstract-1" style="box-sizing: inherit; transition: background-color 1s ease-in-out 1s;" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:xhtml="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Lawmakers propose reversing Supreme Court decisions.</div></div></div><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/monsanto-india-cotton-patent-2566752905.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/monsanto-india-cotton-patent-2566752905.html</a>
<div></div><div><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://ecowatch.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=214ab5fbb3f6015d74ffab4ec&id=fafd67bfa9&e=c2e8fdabfa" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Report: Monsanto May Leave India After Losing GMO Cotton Patent</a></div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/monsanto-india-cotton-gmo-2559650068.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/monsanto-india-cotton-gmo-2559650068.html</a></div>
==
</div><div>Should a company be able to patent a breast cancer gene? What about a species of soybean? How about a tool for basic scientific research? Or even a patent for acquiring patents (see: <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20081107/0118162765.shtml" style="text-decoration: none;">Halliburton</a>)?Intellectual property rights are supposed to help inventors bring good things to life, but there’s increasing concern that they may be keeping us from getting the things we need.In this wild and contested jungle of the law, which concerns</div><div>
</div><div>concerns things like patents and copyrights, questions about the implications of allowing limited monopolies on ideas are making headlines. Do they stifle innovation? Can they cause the public more harm than good? Trillions of dollars are at stake. Companies known as “patent trolls” are gobbling up patents, then going on lawsuit sprees and extracting fees against infringement. Corporations are using intellectual property law to squash competitors and block our access to things as vital as lifesaving drugs, to place restrictions on things as intimate as parts of the human body. Third World countries are kept from accessing essential public goods related to everything from food security to education.Surely, the producers of new ideas should be able to profit from their creations. But furious debates over what should be protected and who should profit are calling attention to the many things that are going wrong in this area. For example, a recent <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/06/health/even-small-medical-advances-can-mean-big-jumps-in-bills.html" style="text-decoration: none;">front-page story in the New York Times</a> detailed how diabetics are being held hostage in America by companies that follow Apple’s playbook to lock patients into buying expensive, patented products that quickly become obsolete. If you don’t buy the product, you don’t miss getting the new iPhone. You may die.Intellectual property rights have come under intense scrutiny, a trend on display at a recent conference in Toronto on innovation and society, "<a href="http://ineteconomics.org/conference/toronto" style="text-decoration: none;">Human After All</a>", sponsored by the Institute for New Economist Thinking (INET) and the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), where I moderated a panel on the topic. Let’s take a look at some of the burning questions and issues in play in this debate.1. Why do we have intellectual property rights?The notion of giving inventors exclusive rights for a limited time goes back to the medieval era. The first patent in America was granted in 1641 to one Samuel Winslow, who came up with a new way to make salt. Patents could cover both tangible objects and also intangible stuff like methods and ideas. The U.S. Constitution has something to say about patents, namely this:<blockquote style="line-height: 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“The Congress shall have power ... To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries…”</blockquote>Notice the reasoning: We the People, through our representatives, grant intellectual property rights so that we can move knowledge forward — not enrich a few people at the expense of everyone else.The question of whether ideas themselves should be protected by patents troubled some of the Founders, who saw the potential for abuse. In an 1813 letter, Thomas Jefferson observed that unlike objects, ideas inherently want to be shared: “He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.”Intellectual property rights have expanded quite a bit since Jefferson's day. The Industrial Revolution saw brutal battles over inventions associated with things like the steam engine where the public good was often sacrificed to individual and corporate profits. In the early nineteen twenties, US patent law was revised to favor corporate interests. In 1930, the U.S. began to allow patents for living organisms with the Plant Patent Act. The Motion Picture Association of America, as it emerged, took a hard line on intellectual property and fought for broad protections. As new industries like biotechnology and nanotechnology popped up, companies and individuals sought additional protections for technology. The growth of the Internet set off a yet another wave of intellectual property rights related to patents and copyrights.Today, what we have is a giant mess, a system plagued by bad actors and bad faith that has often become a means for corporations to smash competition and block human progress rather than advance knowledge. More time and energy is spent by companies coming up with new ways to sue each other than coming up with new ideas (think: Apple v. Samsung). The public purse is picked as taxpayer-funded investments in research are appropriated by profit-making companies. Our patent system fuels inequality by socializing the risk associated with research and discoveries while privatizing the gains. Meanwhile lawyers, as you might expect, are making out like bandits.  2. Patents have exploded since the 1980s.If you talk to some of the bright-eyed folks in Silicon Valley, America is on an innovation roll. Since the 1980s, the number of patents sought has soared, and the pace is accelerating. Over the last two decades, businesses have increasingly used patents to sue or threaten to sue other companies to get them to pay licensing fees. 2012 was quite a year for patents: the number of court cases increased 29 percent in that year alone, according to <a href="http://www.pwc.com/us/en/forensic-services/publications/2013-patent-litigation-study.jhtml" style="text-decoration: none;">PricewaterhouseCoopers</a>. Costs associated with the litigation come to billions per year.Michele Boldrin and David Levine, authors of <a href="http://levine.sscnet.ucla.edu/general/intellectual/against.htm" style="text-decoration: none;">Against Intellectual Monopoly</a>, have noted that in a single four-year period, from 1997 to 2001, patent applications leapt by 50 percent. Meanwhile, the number of lawyers working on intellectual property in America went from 5,500 to nearly 22,000.  But are we really getting so much more creative with all these patents? Boldrin and Levine don’t think so. It appears that the number of patents has grown not because there is more innovation, but simply because the number of things that could be patented grew.As economists William Lazonick and Oner Tulum have pointed out, changes in the law have allowed certain parties, like venture capitalists, to grow rich on patents at the expense of the public. The Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 made it easier for companies, particularly those in biotech, to profit from the results of government-backed research done in universities. Seen an ad for Botox lately? Lazonick and Tulum point out that Botox is a drug whose medical applications were developed in taxpayer-funded universities in the 1960s. In 1983, something known as the Orphan Drug Act allowed companies like Allergan, which got hold of Botox, to commercialize certain kinds of drugs that were developed for use in a small population when additional properties of the drugs were discovered. In 2013, Botox generated nearly $2 billion in revenues for Allergan, of which 54 percent were for therapeutic uses that your doctor prescribes and 46 percent were for the cosmetic uses that the company advertises.3. Intellectual property rights can block innovation.One of the biggest arguments in favor of robust intellectual property rights is that they are supposed to drive innovation, giving big rewards to those who come up with new ideas. But a growing list of experts, such as Boldrin and Levine, counter that this is nonsense. “Intellectual monopoly is not a cause of innovation,” they write, “but it is rather an unwelcome consequence of it.” They argue that in young, dynamic industries, intellectual monopoly doesn’t play a major role — it’s only when the ideas run out that companies become obsessed with having the government protect the old ways of doing business.In other words, an explosion in patents could be a sign that a country is getting less innovative, not more.Boldrin and Levine provide numerous examples in their book of how patents shut down innovation, from a steam engine patent that may have delayed the Industrial Revolution by a couple of decades to the Wright brothers American patent on the airplane which forced innovative work in the industry to move to France.More recently, Heidi Williams <a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/uocp-dip032713.php" style="text-decoration: none;">examined</a> work done in the area of human genome sequencing by the Human Genome Project (a public entity) and also by Celera (a private company). Williams concluded that Celera’s intellectual property rights claims resulted in a persistent 20-30 percent reduction in subsequent scientific research and product development.Economist Petra Moser states that if you look at history, intellectual property laws have always had the potential to squelch progress:<blockquote style="line-height: 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> "Overall, the weight of the existing historical evidence suggests that patent policies, which grant strong intellectual property rights to early generations of inventors, may discourage innovation. On the contrary, policies that encourage the diffusion of ideas and modify patent laws to facilitate entry and encourage competition may be an effective mechanism to encourage innovation.”</blockquote>4. The public is getting harmed and cheated.It’s increasingly clear that taxpayers are getting ripped off, particularly in areas like in pharmaceuticals. Through entities like the National Institutes of Health, the federal government pays for basic research that gets plundered by corporations that make tremendous profits (and then, of course, lobby to have their taxes reduced). Companies like Apple expect the U.S. government to protect their intellectual property rights all over the world, yet they assiduously avoid paying taxes. Considering the fact that iPhones, for example, would not exist without taxpayer-funded research in everything from touchscreen technology to GPS, this is especially maddening.Battles between companies and sovereign countries are heating up. Eli Lilly and the Canadian government are <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/corporate-intelligence/2014/04/14/eli-lilly-vs-canada-the-patent-war-moves-to-washington/" style="text-decoration: none;">gearing up</a> for a showdown since the Canadians took away the company’s rights to two popular new drugs, one for attention-deficit disorder and another for psychotic illness. Despite the fact that countries are supposed to have the right to set their own domestic laws for rules of medicine patents, big corporations are increasingly able to get around them and effectively challenge national policy. Free trade pacts have become a prime vehicle for this. The much-debated Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free-trade pact being negotiated between North American and Asian countries and backed by President Obama, has provoked outrage because it would enhance drug company profits by protecting patents on drugs and medical procedures while blocking less expensive generic drugs. The fear is that powerful corporations will blow right past the laws of individual countries and use patents in ways that pose serious human rights questions.5. Things don’t have to be this way.While we certainly want to promote new ideas and to reward creativity, many feel that intellectual property laws aren’t the best way to do this. As Levine has written:<blockquote style="line-height: 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“It is a long and dangerous jump from the assertion that innovators deserve compensation for their efforts to the conclusion that patents and copyrights, that is monopoly, are the best or the only way of providing that reward.”</blockquote>Several of the economists I spoke to at the INET/CIGI conference, such as Italian economist Giovanni Dosi and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, have suggested other ways of rewarding inventors, such as prizes. Stiglitz has pointed out that prizes, as opposed to patents, could help reward research that might not be commercially profitable, like developing a cure for AIDs, or other urgent global problems.Clearly the notion of public benefit has to be vigorously defended in discussions of intellectual property rights. There are many ways the public could get a better deal. The government, for one, could claim rights to revenues for ideas and inventions that were funded with taxpayer money. Or it could force companies like Apple that benefit from such research to pay their share of taxes. So far, the government has not exercised its muscle because there is an imbalance of power between public and private sector.  We need to recognize that science and technology grow by accretion, each new creator building on the works of those who came before. Overprotection blocks exactly what it’s supposed to enhance: ideas that help us live better. The intellectual property system needs to be reevaluated so that social and economic progress aren't hampered by laws that only reward the few, and the public good becomes a top priority.<div class="bio-new body_economy" style="width: 630px; line-height: 22px; height: auto; border-top: 3px solid rgb(223, 223, 218); clear: both; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="author-bio">Lynn Parramore is an AlterNet senior editor. She is cofounder of Recessionwire, founding editor of New Deal 2.0, and author of "Reading the Sphinx: Ancient Egypt in Nineteenth-Century Literary Culture." She received her Ph.D. in English and cultural theory from NYU. She is the director of AlterNet's New Economic Dialogue Project.</div></div></div><div>
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