I pointed out in There’s No Such Thing as a Free Patent that “The conventional defense of the patent system is that it is essential in order to stimulate creativity.” And here, on the widely-read Patently-O Patent Law blog, we have patent attorney Dennis Crouch casually admitting : Patents are intended to lure potential inventors into the business
Or: We’re from the government—and we’re here to help. In Perspective: Let global online freedom ring? , my former partner, e-commerce law expert Eric Sinrod critiques the proposed Global Online Freedom Act of 2006 . Like the hideous Foreign Corrupt Practices Act , which outlaws US companies or citizens paying bribes to foreign officials even if
I’ve recently bemoaned the damage done to RIM, the manufacturer of the Blackberry, by the US patent system. RIM eventually had to settle for over $600M with NTP, even though the patents it was accused of violating were being re-examined in the US Patent Office and might be overturned. Nevertheless, the very real threat of an injunction by the
Good interview here . I liked his comments on “ Net Neutrality “: When asked what he thought about it, he responded: This is where basically the Net is not allowed to discriminate? I think it’s an obscenity. I think people that have paid for the wires and cables should able to charge whatever they want for their product. And for other people to
Bootlegger County, State of Mississippi, is as dry as a sandpile in a Saudi Arabian back yard. Alcoholic beverages are verboten by edict of the governor. What a piece of work is man to let the government tell us what we can drink, where we can drink, and how much of the proceeds should go into political pockets. It is an ominous precedent. If the
In a recent issue of Greg Aharonian’s PatNews newsletter, he points out that it may be possible for patent law to be stretched to cover things like music, which have traditionally been held to be non-patentable. I reprint the entire entry below. In it, Aharonian fumes that patent attorneys don’t fulfill their “ethical” obligation to speak out on
Or so argues Michael Crichton, in Patenting Life , a NY Times editorial (thanks to Isaac Bergman for link). Excerpts: YOU, or someone you love, may die because of a gene patent that should never have been granted in the first place. Sound far-fetched? Unfortunately, it’s only too real. Gene patents are now used to halt research, prevent medical
This client alert explains some recent changes in US patent law (see also Cease & Desist Letters — Declaratory Judgment Lawsuits ). Under previous law, if a patentee threatens to sue you with patent infringement, you had a “reasonable apprehension” of being sued, so instead of waiting around for years for this to happen, you could institute a
Just great. For years we’ve resisted signing on to the socialistic Law of the Sea Treaty . Well, Bush is now urging “the Senate to act favorably on U.S. accession to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea during this session of Congress.” The LOST was enacted as part of the socialistic New International Economic Order and “permanent
Media Critic Solomon Pushes Limits of Fair-Use in New Documentary provides a good illustration of how flawed the entire notion of copyright is. This piece reports that: The new documentary “War Made Easy” isn’t just a searing critique of how administrations over the past 40 years have manipulated the media to build support for war. The 72-minute
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.