[Patents] bio and info

[PILCH Hartmut phm@a2e.de]

> Any anti-WTO attitude could be more harmful than useful by making
> corporations fear that anti-patent people are anarchists or so. Also,
> some people will then consider that the problem of software patents is
> the same as the one for bio-patents.

I agree.
 
> The problem with software patents and bio patents is quite different
>       1- bio patents are good for small companies and bio multinationals 
> but harmful for 3rd
> world countries and eventually for the society
>       2- software patents are harmful for small companies, do not matter 
> much for
> multinationals and are certainly harmuful for the society

Some more points of comparison:

The bio patents problem is mostly an "ordre public" problem.  The
antipatenters never touch basic problems of the patent system but only of
unrelated issues such as the morality of patenting human genes.

However, there is a common point which they overlook and we can stress:
Both life and information is reproducable without an industrial process.
Patents should be granted on things for whose *reproduction* an industrial
process is needed.  This is imho the underlying idea of the patent system,
which should be brought into the public discussion at every possible
opportunity, especially now that there is a pointless public outcry that
can be turned into something meaningful. 

See the proposal for a clarification of EPC 52 under   

        http://swpat.ffii.org/stidi/epue52en.html

As far as WTO is concerned, one can point out that 
- this system is limiting choices and taking away people's
  chances to develop different approaches (e.g. rigid prescription
  that patents must be granted for 20 years)
- this high degree of uniformation is more harmful than useful

But this is not our primary concern, and I would certainly not join forces
with people who accuse WTO mainly on the basis of third world interests
(tier-mondisme, which Breese's people would like to accuse us of, see
their signatures at http://swpat.ffii.org/miert/) or some other ideologies
about ordre public, which chip away at our basis of broad public consensus
that we now can stand upon.

--
phm