Author

Topic: Intellectual Property - In All Fairness! - page 109. (Read 105893 times)

legendary
Activity: 1218
Merit: 1001
September 01, 2011, 01:57:02 PM
Branding is about EXCLUSIVE naming.  Remove exclusivity and you have no brand.

If your ideas remove my freedom to have branded goods, exclusively branded goods, then they interfere with the way I have chosen to live.  Luckily I am in a majority Smiley so there is no danger.

Law and rights are social constructs designed to make life better than anarchy.  As you say, the majority can decide that killing someone is OK and in fact do so every day to 1000s of unborn people.  If you disagree with this, the way to deal with it is to persuade people life would be better if the law changed.

Since your idea doesn't improve life, there is no real point in trying to decide if we need laws or rights or any other implementation details.  Its a waste of time.  

Do all of those unborn people get to have a chance to "cast" their vote? Kinda hard to do when you're dead, huh? I am attempting to persuade you. Your IP laws conflict with my personal property, and hence interfere with the way I have chosen to live. Get your chocolate out of my peanut butter please.

Posit a solution to the IP vs. PP issue and maybe we can move on to more important matters.

The issue is solved Smiley  Rights are social constructs designed to make life better than anarchy.  That includes property rights - we create the rights and we create their limits.  In this case, the right is limited by the greater right of intellectual property.  

What you are proposing is to remove the intellectual property rights and expand the property rights.  Since that would reduce my rights (I own trademarks and I actively like branded goods like cars and drinks), I'll say "No thanks."  But my mind is open - I can accept that I may be a loser and society can be a winner if you have a better idea.  If you can show that society will be better off without intellectual property rights, of course I will agree with your concept.

EDIT: off topic but yes I do try to persuade people that abortion and euthanasia laws are a muddled mess.  Its strange that you can kill an unborn healthy child but you go to jail if you help a sick person to die.
sr. member
Activity: 420
Merit: 250
September 01, 2011, 01:40:33 PM
Branding is about EXCLUSIVE naming.  Remove exclusivity and you have no brand.

If your ideas remove my freedom to have branded goods, exclusively branded goods, then they interfere with the way I have chosen to live.  Luckily I am in a majority Smiley so there is no danger.

Law and rights are social constructs designed to make life better than anarchy.  As you say, the majority can decide that killing someone is OK and in fact do so every day to 1000s of unborn people.  If you disagree with this, the way to deal with it is to persuade people life would be better if the law changed.

Since your idea doesn't improve life, there is no real point in trying to decide if we need laws or rights or any other implementation details.  Its a waste of time.  

Do all of those unborn people get to have a chance to "cast" their vote? Kinda hard to do when you're dead, huh? I am attempting to persuade you. Your IP laws conflict with my personal property, and hence interfere with the way I have chosen to live. Get your chocolate out of my peanut butter please.

Posit a solution to the IP vs. PP issue and maybe we can move on to more important matters.
sr. member
Activity: 420
Merit: 250
September 01, 2011, 01:23:32 PM
I'm noticing a real division in many of the comments about Law, in the threads in the Politics & Society sections.

Here's the general theories/beliefs posited:

1) Law's are devised to determine what actions between persons and their possessions are consensual, and if not, is prohibited.

2) See (1) and,
  • Consensual interpersonal acts, or acts between a human and a non-human object, defined as offensive (i.e. same-sex marriage, child pornography, etc.) is prohibited,
  • Specific characteristics (composition, function, appearance, etc.) that an object has, independent of its application, and by definition offensive, is prohibited. (i.e. intellectual property, violent video games, guns, etc.)

What's your preference of law, and why?
legendary
Activity: 1218
Merit: 1001
September 01, 2011, 01:07:56 PM
So you acknowledge that its not safe to make an investment in drug research without intellectual property.  Fine.

Its all very well saying that you have a theory which says Intellectual Property is putting you in a living hell.  But I have a reality that intellectual property gives me Coca-Cola, Blackberries, Ford and as many consumer goods as I could ever want.  Cheaply.  Without any noticeable impact on my freedom.  If your ideas that remove consumer brands and research that leads to innovation were implemented, I would be worse off and for that reason, I'd never vote for it.  What is the point in making a change to society that is guaranteed to make me worse off? 

I'm sure you will say that doesn't matter to you but I can't see how your concept would ever be useful.  No democratic society will vote to end the present system of endless goodies at low prices.  And no dictator will want to pick a fight over something so arcane.  It seems a waste of time.

The definition of safe is to be free from harm or injury. If by that, you mean to be safe from competition, then no, no investment in any endeavor will ever be "safe". I should be free to compete with you on any thing. To compete is to offer an object or service of any kind that I possess or can physically provide to another interested party, sans government monopoly privilege. I have it, it's mine, you want it, I ask for payment, you either accept or reject it. The end.

My ideology does not remove consumer brands. I'm not going to force you to have no branding or labeling. You can label your private property however you choose, it's your private property after all. Compose, divide, manipulate, dispose and destroy it to your hearts content. I'm not going to stop you.

Do we need a definition of what freedoms are? Perhaps the impact on your freedoms you don't notice because you don't know what they are. If you were the only person on the planet, you'd have an infinite amount of freedom. With two or more people you have less. How much less, is the interesting question.

A democracy is just majority rule. Again we've gone over this before. I and my comrades, should they represent a majority, could make murder permissible, but we've agreed before, that isn't just. So, if were going to get past arguing over mere numerical superiority, can we move on to the more relevant argument regarding the validity of law for lawful sake?

Branding is about EXCLUSIVE naming.  Remove exclusivity and you have no brand.

If your ideas remove my freedom to have branded goods, exclusively branded goods, then they interfere with the way I have chosen to live.  Luckily I am in a majority Smiley so there is no danger.

Law and rights are social constructs designed to make life better than anarchy.  As you say, the majority can decide that killing someone is OK and in fact do so every day to 1000s of unborn people.  If you disagree with this, the way to deal with it is to persuade people life would be better if the law changed.

Since your idea doesn't improve life, there is no real point in trying to decide if we need laws or rights or any other implementation details.  Its a waste of time. 
sr. member
Activity: 420
Merit: 250
September 01, 2011, 12:28:42 PM
roy·al·ty (roil-t)
n. pl. roy·al·ties
1.
   a. A person of royal rank or lineage.
   b. Monarchs and their families considered as a group.
2. The lineage or rank of a monarch.
3. The power, status, or authority of a monarch.
4. Royal quality or bearing.
5. A kingdom or possession ruled by a monarch.
6. A right or prerogative of the crown, as that of receiving a percentage of the proceeds from mines in the royal domain.
7.
   a. The granting of a right by a monarch to a corporation or an individual to exploit specified natural resources.
   b. The payment for such a right.
8.
   a. A share paid to a writer or composer out of the proceeds resulting from the sale or performance of his or her work.
   b. A share in the proceeds paid to an inventor or a proprietor for the right to use his or her invention or services.
9. A share of the profit or product reserved by the grantor, especially of an oil or mining lease. Also called override.
sr. member
Activity: 420
Merit: 250
September 01, 2011, 12:22:19 PM
So you acknowledge that its not safe to make an investment in drug research without intellectual property.  Fine.

Its all very well saying that you have a theory which says Intellectual Property is putting you in a living hell.  But I have a reality that intellectual property gives me Coca-Cola, Blackberries, Ford and as many consumer goods as I could ever want.  Cheaply.  Without any noticeable impact on my freedom.  If your ideas that remove consumer brands and research that leads to innovation were implemented, I would be worse off and for that reason, I'd never vote for it.  What is the point in making a change to society that is guaranteed to make me worse off? 

I'm sure you will say that doesn't matter to you but I can't see how your concept would ever be useful.  No democratic society will vote to end the present system of endless goodies at low prices.  And no dictator will want to pick a fight over something so arcane.  It seems a waste of time.

The definition of safe is to be free from harm or injury. If by that, you mean to be safe from competition, then no, no investment in any endeavor will ever be "safe". I should be free to compete with you on any thing. To compete is to offer an object or service of any kind that I possess or can physically provide to another interested party, sans government monopoly privilege. I have it, it's mine, you want it, I ask for payment, you either accept or reject it. The end.

My ideology does not remove consumer brands. I'm not going to force you to have no branding or labeling. You can label your private property however you choose, it's your private property after all. Compose, divide, manipulate, dispose and destroy it to your hearts content. I'm not going to stop you.

Do we need a definition of what freedoms are? Perhaps the impact on your freedoms you don't notice because you don't know what they are. If you were the only person on the planet, you'd have an infinite amount of freedom. With two or more people you have less. How much less, is the interesting question.

A democracy is just majority rule. Again we've gone over this before. I and my comrades, should they represent a majority, could make murder permissible, but we've agreed before, that isn't just. So, if were going to get past arguing over mere numerical superiority, can we move on to the more relevant argument regarding the validity of law for lawful sake?
legendary
Activity: 1264
Merit: 1008
September 01, 2011, 12:15:30 PM
And thus, the research stops unless there is a patent system.

As pointed out here, that's false.

Its also ironic that such a false statement would appear in this forum..  as bitcoin itself is a nice example proving the statement false.  Imagine, an entire community working on high-tech important research.  And all without a king's guarantee of unfair profits at the end! 



Bitcoin is profitable right now and only getting better.  The difficulty is falling so now is the time to mine Smiley 

Asking for an investment of several hundred million dollars with zero return is an entirely different proposition.  BTW, most of us live in democracies where the government represents our wishes.  I don't know where you live but you have a King that makes your laws Shocked  Wow.


Who said anything about zero return? 

I claim that it is possible to make a profit even when competition is allowed.  Do you disagree with this statement?   

Yes, intellectual property laws are holdovers from monarchy, when the payments to "own" intellectual property would be made to the king.  Today they are made to the government in largely the same fashion, although the goverment no longer has as much power over the marketplace and so the power of the IP laws is dying (fortunately for the populace).  Also, look at the language used, e.g. "royalties". 

Are you defending the right to pay off government officials for monopoly control of a marketplace, and then suggesting that without said protectionism no investment could be made? 






legendary
Activity: 1218
Merit: 1001
September 01, 2011, 12:00:33 PM
Bitcoin2cash - thats an implementation issue in your country. Here in the UK things work fine.
sr. member
Activity: 504
Merit: 252
Elder Crypto God
September 01, 2011, 11:53:34 AM

Thanks for the link. The relevant part in the video is at 57:06 where the doctor speaking states that the pharmaceutical companies didn't need the patent system before FDA regulations. What mattered was being first-to-market because even when there was a second-to-market, the first-to-market still kept 80% to 90% of the customers. It was only because of the FDA regulations, which made the costs so high to develop new drugs, that the patent system became so important. In other words, get rid of the FDA at the same time you get rid of patents and we will have safe drugs, cheaper and faster. I think this is the nail in the coffin for intellectual property. Thanks again.

The FDA regulations are there for a reason.  Bad drugs kill people.  If your idea is to allow unregulated drug sales is implemented, some people will die for no good reason.


Watch the video in that link. The doctor estimates that 4.7 million people have died from delays by the FDA of drugs that were eventually declared safe. She estimates that another 4 to 16 million people were killed by not being allowed access to drugs that are safe but couldn't be jumped through the FDA's hoops. How many lives has the FDA saved? She says about 7,000 and even says that if that number is off by a factor of 100 that 700,000 people is still a lot less than 4.7 million people if you only count the delays. Some people will die either way. The way you're proposing makes drugs cost more, makes healthcare have to be rationed more sparingly and kills people. That's even ignoring the fact that government intervention in voluntary human interactions is immoral. All around, your way of doing things is bad.
legendary
Activity: 1218
Merit: 1001
September 01, 2011, 11:47:45 AM
legendary
Activity: 1218
Merit: 1001
September 01, 2011, 11:39:03 AM
The FDA regulations are there for a reason.  Bad drugs kill people.  If your idea is to allow unregulated drug sales is implemented, some people will die for no good reason.

Are you aware of just how often that happens right now, with FDA regulations?
The recalls on the list are generally Class I., which means there is a reasonable probability that the use of or exposure to a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.

We've actually reached the point where prescription drugs kill more people than prohibited ones!
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=prescription-drug-deaths&print=true
http://www.google.com/search?q=more+deaths+prescription+illegal

Regardless, it is at the very least questionable that pharmaceutical development requires patents, so please stop using that claim to defend the concept.

You can't simply assert that.  There is nothing to stop companies making drugs and foregoing patents right now. Feel free to point me to them - otherwise lets limit ourselves to the real world.
newbie
Activity: 23
Merit: 0
September 01, 2011, 11:21:10 AM
The FDA regulations are there for a reason.  Bad drugs kill people.  If your idea is to allow unregulated drug sales is implemented, some people will die for no good reason.

Are you aware of just how often that happens right now, with FDA regulations?
The recalls on the list are generally Class I., which means there is a reasonable probability that the use of or exposure to a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.

We've actually reached the point where prescription drugs kill more people than prohibited ones!
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=prescription-drug-deaths&print=true
http://www.google.com/search?q=more+deaths+prescription+illegal

Regardless, it is at the very least questionable that pharmaceutical development requires patents, so please stop using that claim to defend the concept.
sr. member
Activity: 420
Merit: 250
September 01, 2011, 11:15:25 AM
You are correct but that is an implementation problem.  Frederic's problem is more basic.  He wants to have the right to plagiarism.  He feels its an infringement of his liberty that he can't create a fizzy cola drink and sell it under the name Coca-Cola.

If by implementation problem you mean method, type, or construct of contract, then yes, it becomes a matter of what representations you make. If you agree with the other person that you will provide an "original work" (i.e. not plagiarized) and your work too closely resembles the work of another author, then you can decide amongst yourselves what restitution you might have to make. Likewise, this is also true for lying about the origins of a product (under contract) about an object you may or may not have produced yourself.

Quote
Fred, I notice you seem to have given up trying to justify your position.  Here is the question you ran away from in case you have forgotten.

Quote
Good effort.  Really - I admire your persistence Smiley But you need to try harder as life is hard and there is a small minority of people who are blatantly dishonest.

If one of these crooks gets the medicine into his hands and in flagrant breach of contract, publishes the formula, are you, as an innocent third party, then free to copy the formula and sell the new drug yourself?  Under the same brand name as the original investor?

If yes, the original investor is ruined and the world being the cruel place it is, you know this will happen every time.  And thus, the research stops unless there is a patent system.

Unless you have some alternative mechanism ?  I await your reply with interest.

I'm not running away, just doing things other than responding to you. In any case, my response is that you are not obligated (being an outside third party) to refrain from mimicking another persons work, nor causing your possessions from becoming functionally similar to those of another person regardless of the origins of their works. I guess competition is cruel. I do prefer cooperation just so you know, if that helps. Life isn't all about the money, right?

I believe, although I can't definitively prove, that the free flow of information in society, and the minimization of litigation which prevents the utilization of said information may improve production, reduce redundant cyclical errors (repeating the same errors or attempts) therby reducing costs, and overhead (government agencies, examiners, lawyers).  Resource management could be more effective.

Constraining information (which is a nearly infinite resource) as opposed to intentionally forcing it to become a scarcity, seems to me to be an unnecessary contrivance. It complicates and blurs the line between what thing belongs to who merely because someone, somewhere was the first to "author" it. By authoring, I mean to say a recomposition or molecular manipulation of the constituent parts of the physical material matter in your possession.

To infuse characteristics of private property with the characteristics of origin, pattern, function, composition, and time specificity as opposed to who is merely the first possessor of the object seems misguided and wholly inadequate to the theory of private property rights.

The theories of private property ownership and intellectual property concepts conflict. You are estopped if by establishing the theory of private property law, you then reverse yourself by enacting IP law that directly violates private property principles. Doing that, in my most humble opinion, truly is a living hell.
legendary
Activity: 1218
Merit: 1001
September 01, 2011, 10:31:35 AM
And thus, the research stops unless there is a patent system.

As pointed out here, that's false.

Its also ironic that such a false statement would appear in this forum..  as bitcoin itself is a nice example proving the statement false.  Imagine, an entire community working on high-tech important research.  And all without a king's guarantee of unfair profits at the end! 



Bitcoin is profitable right now and only getting better.  The difficulty is falling so now is the time to mine Smiley 

Asking for an investment of several hundred million dollars with zero return is an entirely different proposition.  BTW, most of us live in democracies where the government represents our wishes.  I don't know where you live but you have a King that makes your laws Shocked  Wow.
legendary
Activity: 1264
Merit: 1008
September 01, 2011, 10:28:12 AM
And thus, the research stops unless there is a patent system.

As pointed out here, that's false.

Its also ironic that such a false statement would appear in this forum..  as bitcoin itself is a nice example proving the statement false.  Imagine, an entire community working on high-tech important research.  And all without a king's guarantee of unfair profits at the end! 

legendary
Activity: 1218
Merit: 1001
September 01, 2011, 05:44:32 AM

Thanks for the link. The relevant part in the video is at 57:06 where the doctor speaking states that the pharmaceutical companies didn't need the patent system before FDA regulations. What mattered was being first-to-market because even when there was a second-to-market, the first-to-market still kept 80% to 90% of the customers. It was only because of the FDA regulations, which made the costs so high to develop new drugs, that the patent system became so important. In other words, get rid of the FDA at the same time you get rid of patents and we will have safe drugs, cheaper and faster. I think this is the nail in the coffin for intellectual property. Thanks again.

The FDA regulations are there for a reason.  Bad drugs kill people.  If your idea is to allow unregulated drug sales is implemented, some people will die for no good reason.
sr. member
Activity: 504
Merit: 252
Elder Crypto God
September 01, 2011, 02:21:32 AM
And thus, the research stops unless there is a patent system.

As pointed out here, that's false.
legendary
Activity: 1218
Merit: 1001
September 01, 2011, 02:05:51 AM
hero member
Activity: 812
Merit: 1000
September 01, 2011, 12:50:39 AM
Thanks for the link. The relevant part in the video is at 57:06 where the doctor speaking states that the pharmaceutical companies didn't need the patent system before FDA regulations. What mattered was being first-to-market because even when there was a second-to-market, the first-to-market still kept 80% to 90% of the customers. It was only because of the FDA regulations, which made the costs so high to develop new drugs, that the patent system became so important. In other words, get rid of the FDA at the same time you get rid of patents and we will have safe drugs, cheaper and faster. I think this is the nail in the coffin for intellectual property. Thanks again.

I see. So what you're saying is if we didn't have the FDA or patents, market share is determined by who is first to market, right? Thus, the motivation would be all about being first to market, and we know for certain that such a motivator would never ever inspire a company to risk getting a drug or treatment out there before their competition could if it might result in ill effects down the road. Cool.
sr. member
Activity: 504
Merit: 252
Elder Crypto God
September 01, 2011, 12:31:38 AM

Thanks for the link. The relevant part in the video is at 57:06 where the doctor speaking states that the pharmaceutical companies didn't need the patent system before FDA regulations. What mattered was being first-to-market because even when there was a second-to-market, the first-to-market still kept 80% to 90% of the customers. It was only because of the FDA regulations, which made the costs so high to develop new drugs, that the patent system became so important. In other words, get rid of the FDA at the same time you get rid of patents and we will have safe drugs, cheaper and faster. I think this is the nail in the coffin for intellectual property. Thanks again.
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