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Politics : Actual left/right wing discussion -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (802)	9/14/2006 10:57:48 AM
From: TimF	Respond to of 10087

If long existing forms of life are patented than you have an action contrary to patent law. If new forms are patented and controlled but the new forms are used by almost everyone than you have more control over seed than might be desirable, but you also have the incentive you need to keep generating improvements. Its not illegal to submit an invalid patent (except perhaps if it is a fraudulent claim but I've never heard of a prosecution of such an action), but the patent should be denied and if granted it should be voided. The problem is once its granted you need a huge court battle to void it and many don't have the resources it takes for the court battle. This applies to other areas outside of agriculture which is why I'd like to see reform of intellectual property laws, and its one reason I'd like to see tort reform. More specifically relating to the big agribusiness companies, I'd like to have most or all of their subsidies removed, but that is a separate issue.