U.S. Judge Calls Patents a "Problem"

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nocteratus

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Apple doesn't like others to make some lookalike device with different technologies.

It's a stop for technology development.

Companies shouldn't be stop for creating something that look or do the same as another device but works differently.
 

walter87

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[citation][nom]friskiest[/nom]Patent trolling,. Until there's enough political will to demolish or at least revise the patent system,. it'll be hard NOT to find trolls trolling others.[/citation]
Patent trolling is just one issue.
A bigger issue with patents his the borken patent office approving mundane patents.

For example, Apple just received a patent for the use of LDI's (Liquid Damage Indicators) for use in their products. LDI's are a universal method uses in many electronic devices primary used to determine if water intrusion of a device occurs. Apple applied for this patent back in 2010, but they've been around long before then.

These days the smallest little things that are widely used in different industries are being patented, and are actually approve by the patent office.
 

Vorador2

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A Bad Day

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[citation][nom]memadmax[/nom]About damn time someone starts speaking up about this...[/citation]

Talk all you want, our Congressmen/women are more concerned about staying in office and collecting "political campaign" funds.
 

itchyisvegeta

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The US Patent system was put into place so someone of low income with a money making idea would not get that idea ripped off by those with the ability to steal it. Sad that this day and age, there are trolls that take advantage of this, and all we need to counter it, is more judges like this with common sense.
 
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To all of the pro-Pharma dummies:

They are taking chemicals that exist in nature, augmenting them in the most minor of ways, and that is what is being patented. A molecule, an INVENTION of the UNIVERSE, they only DISCOVER it, or they just discover a known molecule's purpose as a medicine.

Then they are also doing the legwork to figure out that it can be a medicine, and then testing it as such through the standard regulate process. Now, some profit motive is necessary, but should health care be 25% of the US economy like it is now? That is, 1 out of every 4 US dollars is spent on health care. It's not that way because Americans are just that sickly of a bunch, it's that much because BIG PHARMA, INSURANCE COMPANIES AND HOSPITALS ARE ALLOWED TO CHARGE WAY TOO MUCH FOR SERVICES A TRAINED MONKEY COULD PROVIDE.

Case in point: I'm a software developer. I make about $2000 (before taxes) in a 40 hour week. I recently had to make a trip to the emergency room for an infection that quickly spread to my blood, requiring antibiotics. The bastards charged me over $1400 for 15 minutes of being seen by a doctor, and a combined 45 minutes with the nurse and receptionist(plus 2 hours of sitting around their facility in between seeing those people), and all they did was administer some inexpensive antibiotics. They were just lackeys at that, not the reknowned brain surgeon of excellence, and not the hospital chairman.

If you seriously think they deserved an entire week of my above-average pay for something so trivial, I invite you to put down the crack pipe. That's why 1/4 US dollars spent is on health care, because they are ripping everybody off. Don't blame the people who are smart enough not to pay either, the medical industrial complex makes billions in profit, that argument only holds water if the medical industry wasn't insanely profitable.
 
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[citation][nom]nesk[/nom]@K2N Hater the problem with banning patents pharmaceuticals is that not a single private company will invest on it as it will not generate enough returns over their invesments, then we don't have any research done and no new medicines made .So who is going to invest then? the goverment? I guess we need a new model, maybe licensing the meds so every pharmaceutical can make them at a cost or some subsides from gov but then where are you going to take money? Change it's pretty hard i guess.[/citation]

Most drugs, like 99%, do not come from private research but from university research, which is then given, that's right, GIVEN for free. The pharmaceutical corporations then have to pay hundreds of billions to get the drug approved by the FDA, another government agency. But the research was not done by the corporations.

Give me a single example where patents helped the general public, or even the lone inventor. There isn't any. In the rare case a person invented something that had commercial value, say the television or intermittent wind-shield wipers, the inventors had good patents yet didn't see a dime. Patents only serve large corporations, who can spend hundreds of millions fighting something in court for years until the value of the invention is already reduced to zero.

Destroy all patents, it will help the consumer and innovation. It will theoretically hurt innovators, but innovation is generated automatically by competition. You want to beat the other guy, you come up with a better product. Quicker too if your last product isn't covered by a patent.
 
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Edit, hundreds of millions, not billions. I heard it's about 600-900 million for a drug to reach the market.
 

livebriand

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@Andy Chow It's funny to think about it, but a lack of protection for intellectual property is exactly WHY Chinese companies can come up with fakes for products so much faster than legit competition can come up with something.
 

xenolalia

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@Andy Chow

Your initial assertion that "like 99%" of drugs "do not come from private research but from university research, which is then given, that's right, GIVEN for free" is totally inaccurate, as is your claim that the "research was not done by the corporations." See this report by the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development: http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/mpr_06.htm.

Your second assertion that "there isn't any . . . example where patents helped the general public, or even the lone inventor" is equally off base. Though the current system is admittedly dysfunctional, patents and trademarks are in many situations absolutely vital to stimulating research, development and distribution of important products. Like it or not, you almost certainly use in your daily life numerous products that would not exist today (or at minimum, would not be accessible to you) if not for the influence of intellectual property law.

Finally, you seem to forget that although large corporations and powerful individuals can and do frequently act according to their greedy impulses, huge (and I mean HUGE) numbers of people--your "general public"--are employed by and otherwise intimately involved in the workings of large organizations such as drug companies and are in great part responsible for the advent of literally lifesaving products and substances on which your life may one day come to depend.
 

jalek

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In other industries, they lobby for legislation and regulations to make it difficult for new competitors to emerge. In software that would be unusually difficult, so they have a choice. Is it cheaper to try to compete with a new competitor and keep innovating to stay ahead of them, or hire an attorney to file repeated legal challenges to drain their startup capital?

This is just Capitalism.
 

einheriar

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[citation][nom]screw_american_pharma[/nom]To all of the pro-Pharma dummies:They are taking chemicals that exist in nature, augmenting them in the most minor of ways, and that is what is being patented. A molecule, an INVENTION of the UNIVERSE, they only DISCOVER it, or they just discover a known molecule's purpose as a medicine.Then they are also doing the legwork to figure out that it can be a medicine, and then testing it as such through the standard regulate process. Now, some profit motive is necessary, but should health care be 25% of the US economy like it is now? That is, 1 out of every 4 US dollars is spent on health care. It's not that way because Americans are just that sickly of a bunch, it's that much because BIG PHARMA, INSURANCE COMPANIES AND HOSPITALS ARE ALLOWED TO CHARGE WAY TOO MUCH FOR SERVICES A TRAINED MONKEY COULD PROVIDE.Case in point: I'm a software developer. I make about $2000 (before taxes) in a 40 hour week. I recently had to make a trip to the emergency room for an infection that quickly spread to my blood, requiring antibiotics. The bastards charged me over $1400 for 15 minutes of being seen by a doctor, and a combined 45 minutes with the nurse and receptionist(plus 2 hours of sitting around their facility in between seeing those people), and all they did was administer some inexpensive antibiotics. They were just lackeys at that, not the reknowned brain surgeon of excellence, and not the hospital chairman.If you seriously think they deserved an entire week of my above-average pay for something so trivial, I invite you to put down the crack pipe. That's why 1/4 US dollars spent is on health care, because they are ripping everybody off. Don't blame the people who are smart enough not to pay either, the medical industrial complex makes billions in profit, that argument only holds water if the medical industry wasn't insanely profitable.[/citation]


Hey, it is you(r) american rightwing nuts that opt out of general regulated healthcare, you rank as a 3rd world country because of that.. so dont complain about the medical industry, complain about your mediocre healthcare system..
 

The_Trutherizer

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Yeah the law in it's current form can only stifle innovation. And it often leaves the customer of any given device with a feeling of "Why the hell didn't they just do it a standard-logical way." I mean I recall Apple's hooha over some Galaxy S looking too much like an iphone. I don't think it got anywhere, but it is exactly because a smartphone will generally be a flat rectangular device with a screen on the one side - There should not even have been any issue. Really...
 

sykozis

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[citation][nom]Marcus52[/nom]When you or someone you love gets cancer, be sure to ask them to treat with drugs that did not cost millions of dollars to find or create, and make. Tell them you only want those cheap drugs.[/citation]
Let me give you an idea as to the cost of cancer treatment since you seen to know very little about it. Some cancer drugs are priced upwards of $50K per treatment.....yes, I said FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS per treatment. There's no justification for that price at all. Yes, it costs millions and in some cases billions of dollars to make some medications....but there's no justification what so ever for bankrupting people just because they need the medications to live...
 

fuzznarf

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[citation][nom]K2N hater[/nom]Patenting pharmaceuticals should be forbidden in 1st place. It's not about hindering technology in its advance but depriving billions from the latest and most effective treatments. Several treatments cost more than it takes to build a house... a month.Yes, patents are a cancer indeed.[/citation]
are you kidding?? so a company has to spend over a billion dollars to get a drug approved because the FDA has such ridiculous testing guidelines. Even a 'fast track' approval process costs hundreds of million dollars and takes at minimum of 4 years to get approval. So a company invests billions, 99 out of 100 meidcations are deemed illegal by the FDA, and then finally they get something approved and you think the next company over who didn't want to spend the money to develop a drug should be allowed to just swoop in and then make the approved drug that someone else payed billions to create?? get a clue.
 

fuzznarf

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[citation][nom]Andy Chow[/nom]Most drugs, like 99%, do not come from private research but from university research, which is then given, that's right, GIVEN for free.[/citation]
hahaha... ok, go make up some more statistics. you are a troll.. stop making up facts
 

fuzznarf

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[citation][nom]sykozis[/nom]Let me give you an idea as to the cost of cancer treatment since you seen to know very little about it. Some cancer drugs are priced upwards of $50K per treatment.....yes, I said FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS per treatment. There's no justification for that price at all. Yes, it costs millions and in some cases billions of dollars to make some medications....but there's no justification what so ever for bankrupting people just because they need the medications to live...[/citation]

focus you frustration and anger at the deserving source. The FDA. Blame lawyers and the FDA when they are the roadblock to affordable healthcare. The FDA does nothing to produce any of these drugs. They are a government bureaucracy that only consumes tax dollars, and costs you out of pocket dollars when the drug company needs to recoup the billions the FDA cost them in the approval process. Blame the FDA when a loved one dies of cancer while some paper-pusher says that you are not worthy of entering the testing program 'for your own good'. Tell that terminal patient they aren't allowed to try a drug approved for bone cancer in hopes of curing their colon cancer. Tell them it is for their safety that they have to die and that the drug company that developed the potential life saving drug isn't allowed to sell it because the FDA hasn't allowed it. And then tell that company they can't benefit from all their time and money invested because their drug isn't going ot be protected by a patent, and then see how many more life saving drugs they try to get through the FDA. And then you will blame patents... ok haha. that makes sense.
 

teh_chem

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Jun 20, 2012
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[citation][nom]nuvon[/nom]First of all, you CAN NOT patent an "idea" or any design or so called "creation" that is only on PAPER!!![/citation]
Of course you can. As long as it contains all the info necessary for someone to make the thing, you don't actually have to have made a physical object in order to get a patent on it.

And what's the "second of all"?
 
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The traditional patent System is not broken, in a traditional patent application you are required to completely specify you idea with intent and engineering documentation, it has to be complete and exhaustive, the problem was it would take years to go over and approve these patents.

The tech industry could not work with this given that tech inception and decline could occur within a few years waiting for a patent approval could well put a company at a disadvantage yet bringing a tech to market without patent protection could throw away their hard work, so a mew classification of patents were created, the innovative class, which allowed for temporary patents to be granted to the tech while it is being refined and sold at he same time, unfortunately the USPO is under staffed and was easily overwhealmed the tech companies started to complain about he back Logs on the innovative patents, so the USPO started to grant summary judgment on the innovative patents, that is unless the patent are challenged they were quite literally all approved
 

cushgod

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[citation][nom]screw_american_pharma[/nom]To all of the pro-Pharma dummies:They are taking chemicals that exist in nature, augmenting them in the most minor of ways, and that is what is being patented. A molecule, an INVENTION of the UNIVERSE, they only DISCOVER it, or they just discover a known molecule's purpose as a medicine.Then they are also doing the legwork to figure out that it can be a medicine, and then testing it as such through the standard regulate process. Now, some profit motive is necessary, but should health care be 25% of the US economy like it is now? That is, 1 out of every 4 US dollars is spent on health care. It's not that way because Americans are just that sickly of a bunch, it's that much because BIG PHARMA, INSURANCE COMPANIES AND HOSPITALS ARE ALLOWED TO CHARGE WAY TOO MUCH FOR SERVICES A TRAINED MONKEY COULD PROVIDE.Case in point: I'm a software developer. I make about $2000 (before taxes) in a 40 hour week. I recently had to make a trip to the emergency room for an infection that quickly spread to my blood, requiring antibiotics. The bastards charged me over $1400 for 15 minutes of being seen by a doctor, and a combined 45 minutes with the nurse and receptionist(plus 2 hours of sitting around their facility in between seeing those people), and all they did was administer some inexpensive antibiotics. They were just lackeys at that, not the reknowned brain surgeon of excellence, and not the hospital chairman.If you seriously think they deserved an entire week of my above-average pay for something so trivial, I invite you to put down the crack pipe. That's why 1/4 US dollars spent is on health care, because they are ripping everybody off. Don't blame the people who are smart enough not to pay either, the medical industrial complex makes billions in profit, that argument only holds water if the medical industry wasn't insanely profitable.[/citation]

You are sooo right!! I wish everyone would realize this. I say, cancel your healthcare and get on WebMD.com and try to solve as much of your problem as you can. Internet is changing what we know and how much we know. We are coming to conclusions faster then ever as the internet helps us communicate super fast ,and with comment feedback we are all talking it out. Now to make action!! Start our own new Constitution!!
1. Stop buying drugs that can be found in nature.
2. next intelligent person fill in next rule and well keep going until we have a great document. An inspiring song I heard (NOFX) says, a million people are smarter then one. Thats us people!! we are smarter then the few on top. PERIOD. Take our world back!
 

raytseng

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[citation][nom]cushgod[/nom]You are sooo right!! I wish everyone would realize this. I say, cancel your healthcare and get on WebMD.com and try to solve as much of your problem as you can. Internet is changing what we know and how much we know. We are coming to conclusions faster then ever as the internet helps us communicate super fast ,and with comment feedback we are all talking it out. Now to make action!! Start our own new Constitution!!1. Stop buying drugs that can be found in nature.2. next intelligent person fill in next rule and well keep going until we have a great document. An inspiring song I heard (NOFX) says, a million people are smarter then one. Thats us people!! we are smarter then the few on top. PERIOD. Take our world back![/citation]

Only part you have wrong is WebMD. everyone knows that's run by big pharma.
You should use wikipedia, where once you've figured out what is wrong, you can go back to edit and add the proper inexpensive solution to the wiki.
 
[citation][nom]fuzznarf[/nom]are you kidding?? so a company has to spend over a billion dollars to get a drug approved because the FDA has such ridiculous testing guidelines. Even a 'fast track' approval process costs hundreds of million dollars and takes at minimum of 4 years to get approval. So a company invests billions, 99 out of 100 meidcations are deemed illegal by the FDA, and then finally they get something approved and you think the next company over who didn't want to spend the money to develop a drug should be allowed to just swoop in and then make the approved drug that someone else payed billions to create?? get a clue.[/citation]

Most medications that fail are probably not very safe. I'd hate to even consider what to do about medicines not needed years and years of testing before they make it into even niches, let alone the mainstream.
 
[citation][nom]cushgod[/nom]You are sooo right!! I wish everyone would realize this. I say, cancel your healthcare and get on WebMD.com and try to solve as much of your problem as you can. Internet is changing what we know and how much we know. We are coming to conclusions faster then ever as the internet helps us communicate super fast ,and with comment feedback we are all talking it out. Now to make action!! Start our own new Constitution!!1. Stop buying drugs that can be found in nature.2. next intelligent person fill in next rule and well keep going until we have a great document. An inspiring song I heard (NOFX) says, a million people are smarter then one. Thats us people!! we are smarter then the few on top. PERIOD. Take our world back![/citation]

If a million people are smarter than a few people, then why is it that the millions have done nothing but prove how stupid the average person can be. A lot of stupid people aren't more intelligent than a single smart person.
 
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