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Re: The patent process [Was Re: Sharing the Family PC is Patent-Pending]


From: David Kastrup
Subject: Re: The patent process [Was Re: Sharing the Family PC is Patent-Pending]
Date: 11 May 2004 22:56:54 +0200
User-agent: Gnus/5.09 (Gnus v5.9.0) Emacs/21.3.50

"Barry Pearson" <news@childsupportanalysis.co.uk> writes:

> Barry Margolin wrote:
> [snip]
> > The "magic" mostly occurs in industries where there's a significant
> > investment required during the invention process.  If the inventor
> > doesn't have a reasonable hope of being able to recoup that
> > investment, he may give up on the development, and the same decision
> > is likely to be made by all the competing inventors.  The end result
> > would be that no one invents it, and society is poorer as a result.
> [snip]
> 
> I think the pharmaceutical industry is the classic case. They spend
> gob-smacking amounts on trying to make the next life-saving drug.

Get your numbers right.  They spend more money on advertising than
research.

> The vast majority of attempts fail in trials. The cost of satisfying
> government agencies is huge. And, by the time they have got through
> the process, there are only a few years left on the patent, in which
> to try to get their money back! Then it becomes "generic", and
> everyone can make & sell it.

Like Aspirin, the biggest single source of income for Bayer.  Even
though they had their patent pulled as part of war retributions.

Generic available or not, it still pays their bill.  Because of brand
recognition.  Who knows about acetylsalicylic acid?

-- 
David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum

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