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DrBDH's avatar

You can walk into a pharmacy in Indonesia and buy Lipitor, Upjohn Pharmacy’s branded statin, for pennies. That’s the difference in patent laws around the world. (You also don’t need a doctor’s prescription, which reflects differences in professional licensing laws.)

Meanwhile, if you haven’t already, read Mark Twain’s 1906 speech to Congress on extending copyrights so his daughters would have an income after his death. He’s arguing the opposite position to Mr. Baker but with the dry humor he brought to everything about the world (except Joan of Arc and the King of Belgium).

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David John Urban's avatar

The innovation of companies is often judged by the number of patents produced. Often these patents are just to protect the companies from patent trolls who buy patents and try to get money out of companies through the courts. Sometimes the patents are used for better licensing deals. In communications technology this imposes an opportunity cost. R&D could be better spent developing and delivering innovation rather than mounting legal defenses.

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