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We already know where "no you can't do that but we'll take care of you" leads.

An example is AIDS and other medication in South Africa. There is just no way South Africa could pay the prices dreamed up by pharma companies. But any plan by South Africa to manufacture drugs or import generics and provide them at cost domestically was fought tooth and nail by pharma companies and by the highest instances of the US government on behalf pharma companies.

Millions died preventable deaths but at least nobody was a dick by waiving a patent.




FWIW We also know where "you did the work but it belongs to everyone" leads.

There was no real will to pay for AIDS drugs for the world regardless of how it was done, save your sarcasm for the lawyers who fought saving people no matter the excuse they used.

We don't have the will this time either, that's why we opened the patent rather than actually helping. It'd be like if your house was on fire and I threw a box of smoke detectors through the window, to help. Like Robin Hood stealing from the rich and forgetting about the second step.

If we want to save lives we'd have the factories that are already producing keep going rather than expecting new factories to tool up. We did this patent grant because we didn't want to help.

If we do decide this is how patents should work then we should set the rule now, for next time.




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