[A2k] Re: Patent regimes and innovation in developing countries, request
for comments
Smári McCarthy
smari@fabfolk.com
Mon Nov 16 20:22:11 2009
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Hi Anil, all,
I hope all is well. Sorry I haven't been in touch again since India,
things have been really hectic. Your name came up in this discussion
regarding patent regimes and I thought you might be interested in
participating in the discussion, plus you probably have very valuable
insights here.
To state my personal belief, the current patent system as advocated by
WIPO and most nation states is both detrimental to development,
unenforcible by and large, and thoroughly morally bankrupt. Noting the
history of patent law in America, I can support the idea that developing
countries (and only developing countries) provide local (small scale -
village level), extremely limited term patents for imported or
manufactured knowledge, merely as a method to spur innovation and
increase the viability of well educated people to remain in developing
communities.
Peace,
Smári
Chris Watkins wrote:
> we were called upon to advocate the
> strengthening of patent regimes in developing countries
>
>
> Another obvious issue is cost - patents in most countries take a lot of
> time and money and are out of the reach of most small and non-commercial
> innovators.
>
> Anil Gupta and his Honey Bee network
> <http://www.sristi.org/hbnew/aboutus.php> are likely to have some
> insights on patents - they support grassroots innovators in India (and
> maybe elsewhere).
>
> Chris
>
> On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 04:39, Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004@gmail.com
> <mailto:michelsub2004@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> I'm forwarding this request to the open-manufacturing list, and in a
> separate message, to the p2p research list,
>
> Michel
>
> On Thu, Nov 12, 2009 at 12:11 AM, Silke Helfrich
> <Silke.Helfrich@gmx.de <mailto:Silke.Helfrich@gmx.de>> wrote:
>
> Hello,
> I received the e-mail below from the European Business Council
> on Sustainable Energy, an organization I work with on the
> commons. They are quite innovative (f.i. linking the energy
> debate with the open hardware discussion). I don't dare to
> respond, since I am not an expert in the field. It would be
> great to get some advice from people who are better informed
> than I am.
> Some links and current data would help, in English and German,
> your opinion as well, of course.
>
> Best regards and many thanks in advance
> Silke Helfrich
>
>
> Am Mittwoch, den 11.11.2009, 17:56 +0100 schrieb Julio Lambing:
>> Dear Ms. Helfrich,
>>
>>
>> As you know, the European Business Council for Sustainable Energ=
y is
>> concerned with the question how eco-innovation, carbon-neutral a=
nd clean
>> energy technologies can gain a foothold in developing countries.
>> Therefore, for some time past* we devote ourselves to initiating=
an Open*
>> *Source Hardware Initiative including a database for these techn=
ologies*
>> *which is to employ a model similar to the GNU (GPL) license.*
>> At one of our workshops, the representative of a major technolog=
y
>> company pointed out that in various structurally weak developing
>> countries there is no effective protection of "intellectual prop=
erty".
>> Thus, ruthless trend scouts can spot innovative inventions in th=
ese
>> countries (e.g. in Afirca and make them available to companies
>> in industrialised and threshold countries without sharing the be=
nefits
>> with the innovators. Therefore, we were called upon to advocate =
the
>> strengthening of patent regimes in developing countries (with fi=
nancial
>> and juridical support by industrialised countries) in order to s=
afeguard
>> a just compensation for these innovators or communities.
>>
>> We are no experts regarding the question if and how patent regim=
es are
>> effective in developing countries for local innovators and SMEs.
>> Therefore, we address you as an adept of the international discu=
ssion on
>> this topic.
>>
>> In general, for years there is a discussion on whether patents a=
re an
>> obstacle or a catalyst for the transfer of climate-friendly
>> technologies. At the international climate negotiations, speaker=
s from
>> developing countries deplore the role of patents as an obstacle =
to the
>> diffusion of climate-friendly technologies. We, as representativ=
es of
>> companies providing these technologies, are sceptical. Most
>> carbon-neutral technologies are not patent relevant any longer, =
and
>> there are providers of these technologies from developing countr=
ies in
>> the market as well, so there is no monopoly. Furthermore, the ma=
in
>> obstacle for employing climate-friendly technologies in developi=
ng
>> countries are lack of investment capital and lack of know-how re=
garding
>> available technologies and their maintenance. Patent-related pro=
blems we
>> could only identify concerning corrosion protection for offshore
>> windparks, the second generation of biofuels, CCS technology and=
,
>> perhaps, some recent developments in the sphere of photovoltaics=
. We
>> represent a considerable number of green companies which fought =
long and
>> hard for their technologies and deem it unfair that, of all thin=
gs,
>> these technologies are drawn into the patent debate -- in contra=
st to
>> those which polluted the Earth for decades. (Nevertheless, we de=
em it
>> important to further eco-innovation on a voluntary base employin=
g a true
>> Open Source approach. Support, also financial support, would alw=
ays be
>> welcome ;-) )
>>
>> Innovative climate protection technologies will be sought-after =
economic
>> goods in the future. What is your estimate regarding the status =
quo of
>> the international discussion on the strengthening of patent regi=
mes in
>> developing countries - or, rather, mechanisms for safeguarding
>> compensation for innovations like "access and benefit sharing (A=
BS)"
>> discussed in the biodiversity debate?
>>
>> Please feel free to forward these questions to other experts.
>> Thanks a lot for your help and best regards
>>
>> Julio Lambing
>>
>> Managing Director
>> e5 - European Business Council for Sustainable Energy
>>
>> Hauptstrasse 43
>> D-61184 Karben
>> Germany
>> Fon: +49 6039 9291958
>> Fax: +49 6039 9291961
>> lambing@e5.org <mailto:lambing@e5.org>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Work: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhurakij_Pundit_University -
> Research: http://www.dpu.ac.th/dpuic/info/Research.html - Think
> thank: http://www.asianforesightinstitute.org/index.php/eng/The-AFI
>
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> http://blog.p2pfoundation.net
>
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>
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>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Chris Watkins
>
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>
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