Thursday, November 29, 2012 – by Staff Report
A License to Steal ... India Skirts Patent Laws to Help Companies and Poor ... For years, India has refused to respect the patents of foreign pharmaceutical companies suspected of slightly altering their drugs merely to extend their profitability. In doing so, it helps not only the growing number of domestic generic drug makers, but also the millions who can hardly even afford the copycat drugs. – Der Spiegel
Dominant Social Theme: Contravening copyright is thievery.
Free-Market Analysis: Patent is not copyright but increasingly the two are being treated in much the same way these days. Both terms are expressions for law enforcement efforts to control what we can call "shared property."
The problem, especially in the modern era, is that shared property is replicable property. Drugs and movies come to mind. Today, drugs and movies are easily created and moved from place to place. It is a recipe for endless legal warfare because the state's determination to snuff out the uncompensated use of shared property is in conflict with what used to be called natural law. In other words, it can't be done.
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