[LINK] OT? Re: Australian Patents

[JanW]

At 10:48 AM 6/12/2014, Roger Clarke you wrote:
>It was crucial that Galileo be free to point the Dutchmen's tube in a different direction.  Without that, the discovery that Saturn has moons would have been delayed.  
>
>Given that the heliocentrism was one of the critical revolutions (so to speak) that undermined said conventions, intellectual progress was driven by Galileo's potentially patent-breaching actions. 

Hmmm....I'm not sure a patent would have stopped him pointing up instead of down, would it? I mean, if lenses were in the public for purchase and not locked up in a lab somewhere, what was to stop him doing what he did? Or was it the grinding method? I don't know anything about this. I should go re-read the Daniel Boorstin books (The Creators and The Discoverers, both of which are excellent).

I think the problem with patents that perhaps is really wrong is when they are hoarded, a la the supposed developments in improved auto engine designs that were bought up by supposed oil companies to reduce the impact on their profit margins (did this happen?). Or the price gouging by pharmaceutical companies who redesign a teeny weeny aspect of their drugs and extend beyond the original patent period before the IP comes out for generic use.

I'm not a particular defender of one way or the other except in instances where the greater good would be completely trashed, e.g. the examples above. Isn't it reasonable in a world where the embedded systems are such that investments are rewarded to encourage more investment? We don't really have churches hoarding all the gold anymore, which is a good thing (I understand even Pell found the missing millions this week).

Jan



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