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Two Nobel Prize winners want to cancel their own CRISPR patents in Europe

(www.technologyreview.com)
167 points thisismytest | 5 comments | 17 Nov 24 03:03 UTC | HN request time: 0.837s | source
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ixaxaar ◴[17 Nov 24 04:45 UTC] No.42162021[source]▶
What a sad fucking world. I like what China does in the regard to patents. That is exactly what patents deserve.
replies(4): >>42162150 #>>42162389 #>>42163357 #>>42164305 #
levocardia ◴[17 Nov 24 05:15 UTC] No.42162150[source]▶
...steal them from the Americans?
replies(6): >>42162157 #>>42162267 #>>42162535 #>>42162618 #>>42162619 #>>42163616 #
croes ◴[17 Nov 24 07:41 UTC] No.42162618[source]▶
They learned from the best

https://www.history.com/news/industrial-revolution-spies-eur...

Germany did the same with book rights which helped them to become an industrial and scientific powerhouse.

replies(2): >>42162711 #>>42165836 #
1. bboygravity ◴[17 Nov 24 08:02 UTC] No.42162711[source]▶
The Netherlands was the last country in Europe to introduce patent law AFTER Philips stole bulb manufacturing technology from Edison (Philips is now a huge patent holder and actively steals ideas from startups to turn them into patents).
replies(1): >>42163038 #
2. Cumpiler69 ◴[17 Nov 24 09:26 UTC] No.42163038[source]▶
If you can't innovate, steal.
replies(3): >>42163080 #>>42165392 #>>42167386 #
3. arcticbull ◴[17 Nov 24 09:37 UTC] No.42163080[source]▶
History shows us you copy first to build a foundation, refine and then innovate.

This was Japan's recent-ish narrative arc too, after all.

4. idunnoman1222 ◴[17 Nov 24 17:19 UTC] No.42165392[source]▶
This is the proverbial standing on the shoulders of Giants, which we all do every day
5. thayne ◴[17 Nov 24 21:20 UTC] No.42167386[source]▶
If you can't innovate, buy (or steal) someone else's invention, and use a government granted monopoly (i.e. patent) to prevent anyone else from innovating further and making a better version.

Maybe patents provide an incentive to be innovative, but they also create a barrier to innovating on top of technology that is protected by patents.