[brlug-poly] [Fwd: Re: [brlug-general] to release or not to release, intellectual retentiveness.]

[Eric G Ortego]

*Tim Fournet wrote:*
> I hope you're not suggesting that farmers learn how to brew their own
> pesticides ;) .

I think a farmer with enough resources who wants to ought to be able
to. I bet one would need to be certified or licensed due to the
nature and dangers of a process like that, but I was questioning the
reasoning used to slow others from immediately competing.

> Manufacturing pesticides is very difficult and very
> dangerous.

No doubt about it.

> It's also one of those areas where patents are a good idea.
> They allow someone to invent a pesticide, even if they don't have the
> manufacturing abilities required to sell the product themselves in
> volume and get them to market. Just the act of getting it approved for
> use in each state is a LOT of work, something that you'd need the
> resources of a large company for.

I haven't seen anything which suggests countries without patent laws have
trouble getting products to market. Its a large industry, a large problem,
a solution is needed and someone will try to solve it but someone else
often will not be satisfied with the first solution. Why slow the second?

> It's also not really practical to keep
> it as a trade secret, as the government needs to know the composition in
> order to approve it.

I agree, maybe companies shouldn't be allowed to keep those kinds of secrets.

> Patents (or my escrow idea) protect the private
> inventor and allow him to sell his idea.

I like the escrow idea, but tell that to Nikola Tesla.
(rhetorical...hes dead)

> The time period doesn't have to
> be long at all.

Time is certainly one of the biggest factors but it seems clear to me that the
push for more power & value will always be a main goal of patent
purchasing corporations.
FYI, one of the fastest growing industries in America is....Lobbying!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6448213/did/8307867/

> but a few years from now, the
> inventor would have gotten justly compensated for his contribution.

One would hope.
But do you even need to be the inventor to be granted a patent?
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