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

It works when you are catching up. Japanese companies used the same strategy post-WWII. And a lot of other countries, Japan is just a striking example as it was so visible and quick. “Made in Japan” went from derogatory to a sign of quality in about a generation.

Surprisingly when you are in the lead and others have to catch up, IP protections sound much better.

When you are in the lead anything that puts others down is good. That doesn't mean the system needs it to operate. Why would we need a system that protects the country in the lead?

The US industrial revolution was based on it: Samuel "Slater the traitor" memorized designs from a factory he worked at in England and became rich after bringing them to the US.

There are possibly also longer term repercussions from abolishing patents in that people or companies will naturally instead protect themselves via keeping trade secrets instead. This will probably result in some inventions being lost to history instead of being on the public record once the patent expires.

Wasn't this derogatory vs. quality more of a stereotype though?

Japan has long history of craftsmanship so I imagine they made high quality stuff for a while.

I am not arguing about morality or justice. I am just saying that it is unlikely to happen, as the countries which value IP protection have the most to lose from abolishing it. The people in these countries might have different feelings but I don’t think this is going to be a deal breaker any time soon either way.

Personally, I won’t claim much because I haven’t done any survey. IP protection itself sounds reasonable, but guardrails are needed because the incentives to bullshit are quite strong.

In my experience it’s usually a reference to the difference between pre- and post-WWII Japan.

Once Deming made it over there and sold the idea of statistical quality control they were at the forefront of manufacturing rather than a laughingstock.

Up until mid-1970s Japanese goods were about where Aliexpress is now.

Yeah, trade secrets will become bigger, so? You need to expose the product. Or the process, things get reverse engineer. Overall, the net effect will likely be positive if monopolies end.

> Wasn't this derogatory vs. quality more of a stereotype though?

Yes, but not entirely. Japanese cameras, for example, were basically cheap ripoffs of German models up until after WW2. Japanese motorbikes were infamous for being cheap and flimsy in the 1970s to 1980s. Same for the cars, being a Toyota was not a good thing before the 1990s. Sure, there was some inertia and this kind of reputation takes time to shake off. The changes in product quality were gradual and a bit earlier than the changes in perception by the market (the Western European one, at least).

> Japan has long history of craftsmanship so I imagine they made high quality stuff for a while.

So does China. The main thing is that the exports we see are the stuff made cheaply in factories, not the bespoke items crafted from raw materials by an artisan in their workshop. Japanese companies are happy to build on the cheap as well.

And Chinese factories can make very high quality goods, if they put some effort in quality control. I am willing to bet that at some point they’ll be undercut and will go upmarket for a larger and larger slice of their exports.

How useful are patent records for rebuilding technology?

I imagine that patent is not a recipe, but description used identify infringements.

If goal is only to identify infringements, then I would leave bunch of stuff out of patents. (Later I could fill new patent for same thing just describe those parts that were left out in the first one)

In theory the patent is supposed to describe everything necessary to reproduce the invention. If something is left out that is critical then there isn't really any invention there and the patent shouldn't be awarded. I understand that in practice some patents are written in such a way to make this difficult.