Posted on 03/20/2006 9:56:09 AM PST by Grig
• The Earth revolves around the Sun.
• The speed of light is a constant.
• Apples fall to earth because of gravity.
• Elevated blood sugar is linked to diabetes.
• Elevated uric acid is linked to gout.
• Elevated homocysteine is linked to heart disease.
• Elevated homocysteine is linked to B-12 deficiency, so doctors should test homocysteine levels to see whether the patient needs vitamins.
ACTUALLY, I can't make that last statement. A corporation has patented that fact, and demands a royalty for its use. Anyone who makes the fact public and encourages doctors to test for the condition and treat it can be sued for royalty fees. Any doctor who reads a patient's test results and even thinks of vitamin deficiency infringes the patent. A federal circuit court held that mere thinking violates the patent.
All this may sound absurd, but it is the heart of a case that will be argued before the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Shoot, I just dumped all over Michael Crichton without even realizing it. Still, I'm sure he learned about this stuff at some point pursuing his MD....
BTW you can't patent bump since the "speed bump" has been public domain since Achilles dragged "Hector's" body 'round the walls of Troy!
Psst, if you didn't see the movie, Helen is played by Diane Kruger who is one hot chick!
Somebody already copyrighted silence. I'm not kidding. Four minutes, 33 seconds of silence to be precise.
Did I say there wasn't?
The point is, if the company that made this discovery hadn't anticipated a profit, we wouldn't know about the relationship between B12 and homocistine and wouldn't have the benefit of that discovery.
If you want that information to be free to all, then buy it and give it away if you want. If you want the government to buy it, then by all means, call your Congressman.
Do you think a design is property but information isn't? Do you think people who do the hard work of discovery and take the enormous risks to put ideas into practice don't deserve to profit by it? You want the benefits of someone's labor but don't want to pay for it?
You bet there's a debate. Covetousness is so old that we have a Commandment against it.
I think I will patent the word "is", if I can just figure out what it means.
Facts and recipes (as facts) can't be copyrighted. It used to be that mathematical formulas (scientific truths), and with them computer programs, couldn't be patented, but that went out the window in the 1990s when some judges thought it was okay.
The good news: The membership of DU owes you about $10,000,000.
The bad news: Do you have any idea how long it's going to take to raise $10,000,000 out of pizza delivery tips and welfare checks?
Bad news pankot, I have no idea WTF pattenended means but I do know that I patented the "F" word so it belongs to me.
I just patented the use of posts on FR. Now all you guys, pay up!
Nope. It rotates about its axis.
As I said, the original intent of intellectual property law was to encourage innovation, now it actually discourages it.
When did you obtain your law degree?
I will n-v-r pay a dim- for th- right to us- th- l-tt-r -.
That go-s for your oth-r l-tt-r ^ as w-ll (pronoun^-d s--) ... give it your b-st shot b-zzdot, I'll go liv- in a ^av- b-for- you'll profit off of m-.
It is good work. The people that use the incorrect spelling are the least likely to contest the request for royalties for the use of the misspelled word.
It's a sham- I don't hold th- pat-nt for thinking outsid- th- box, you'd ow- m- mon-y
And it revolves in its orbit about the sun. Take it from an orbit guy: "revolution" is the term we use to denote "once around the orbit," which in turn is usually described in terms of the motion between successive upward crossing of a reference plane (e.g., the equatorial plane for Earth orbits, or the Ecliptic for sun-centered orbits).
"Orbit" is too imprecise a term, as it can mean a lot of different things, depending on context.
But his estate sued another composer who did his own minute of silence, not simply playing a recording of the previous 'work.' About the only connection was a joking reference to the original composer in the credit.
Pmub!
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