"This summer, a crowd of patent opponents and proponents =
will be=20
descending on Geneva when international organizations in the city =
convene a=20
series of meetings to explore future legitimacy for the global regime =
of=20
patent protection.
Right:=20
green and patent -- but is the solution to the world's innovation =
problems in=20
the bag?
The participants will address a wide variety of increasing =
patent=20
disputes, but they seem to amount to one of the most primitive =
questions -- do=20
we truly need patents? To answer this question, policymakers are =
strongly=20
encouraged to consider the International Bank of Intellectual Property =
(IBIP),=20
which has been recently proposed in the course of working with the
Patents are =
widely=20
believed to be indispensable for promoting innovations, or "knowledge=20
production." Once, however, innovation is protected, patents leave up =
to the=20
market the dissemination of patented technologies, or "knowledge =
allocation,"=20
which is the common culprit of various patent frictions, including the =
accessibility to essential medicines, the transfer of environmental=20
technologies and the biased incentives of research toward commercial=20
profitability rather than the most necessary public interest, for =
example, the=20
"neglected diseases."
Patent insuranceTo set off this lack of knowledge allocation, IBIP is =
designed to=20
provide "patent insurance" as a financial assistance. Besides the =
existing=20
official fee for granting and maintaining patents, IBIP would impose =
an extra=20
official fee on patent applicants and holders as a form of "insurance=20
premium," which would create a trust fund financing knowledge =
allocation, such=20
as the compensation of technology transfer costs, particularly royalty =
assumption, and other subsidies for purchasing patented products in =
developing=20
counties, as well as a wide range of funding proposed for needed =
research,=20
including medical grants, prizes, public-private partnerships and=20
others.
This financial assistance, or "payment of the =
insurance," would=20
convince society of the wisdom of patents, and as a result, calm =
growing=20
global criticism over patents and uphold societal trust over them. In =
other=20
words, the extra fee would serve as a premium for defending patents =
against=20
the risk of compulsory licensing and other safeguard flexibilities.=20
Consequently, the dual benefit of patent insurance -- not only for =
developing=20
nations in the form of financial aid, but also for developed nations =
in=20
ensuring patents -- would readily build consensus by developed nation=20
patentees on their burden of paying the patent premium. This dual =
benefit=20
would attract not only corporations facing predicaments in patent =
protection,=20
such as pharmaceutical industries, but also any research-oriented =
sectors in=20
developed countries because they all need ensured patents.
The =
patent=20
insurance would be payable to both developing and developed countries =
in=20
response to their requests for financial assistance. Such requests =
would be=20
deliberated to assess the feasibility of facilitating knowledge =
allocation=20
during an international quasi-judicial process, modeled after, for =
instance,=20
the Multilateral Investment Guarantee =
Agency affiliated with the World Bank and the dispute settlement =
mechanism=20
in the World Trade Organization.=20
Importantly, in the case of denial, the IBIP must ensure opportunities =
for the=20
rejected country to consider an alternative action, including the =
traditional=20
flexibilities in patent such as compulsory licensing, parallel =
importing,=20
generic production and the
The patent insurance premium would be an =
additional=20
weight for patentees in the traditional balance of public interest =
(innovation=20
disclosure) and private right (the patent monopoly as a reward for the =
disclosure) in the legitimacy of patents. In the sense of economics, =
the=20
patent premium would serve as a combination of "
Translation Waiver and =
Reduced=20
Price of Official FeeTo prevent burden of the premium from inflating the price of =
patented products, for example, increased price of medicine, the =
proposed=20
patent insurance would also feature two measures: a translation waiver =
and=20
reduced price of the official fee.
Having paid the premium =
under the=20
translation waiver, an applicant would no longer need to file an =
application=20
translation with a local patent office while the application enters a=20
designated country or region, unless the office needs a faithful =
translation=20
for a trial or litigation. This waiver of translation would compensate =
or even=20
outweigh the financial load of the patent premium because application=20
translation accounts for a significant proportion in the costs of =
obtaining a=20
foreign patent (roughly speaking, the total cost for a single foreign=20
application is US$10,000 and its translation costs usually US$3,000 or =
more).=20
The translation waiver would be supported by considerable improvement =
in=20
computer translation, allowing a patent office to examine an =
application=20
without a human-conducted translation or even by utilizing such =
translation of=20
limited portions (for example, only claims and relevant descriptions =
in a=20
specification).
Another technical progress in examination of =
patent=20
applications would offer a discounted price in official fees for those =
who=20
have already paid the premium. This lowering would be brought about by =
streamlining examination by means of emerging technologies for =
identifying and=20
measuring innovations. These tools would include =
information-communication=20
technologies, highly-evolved patent-mappings and other intelligent=20
methodologies.
In addition to the original functionalities of =
the=20
patent insurance, these financial advantages of the translation waiver =
and=20
discounted official fee would further encourage patentees to agree =
with the=20
insurance premium.
Since patent insurance would be embedded in =
the=20
existing patent system, the insurance would possess a substantive and=20
sustainable financial scale (with a possible annual revenue of up to =
several=20
tens of billions of US dollars) due to enormous amounts of both filing =
numbers=20
and subject matters in patent worldwide even during a time of =
challenging=20
economic conditions.
Knowledge =
liberalisationAn expected function of patent protection is to enhance the =
total=20
welfare in society through "knowledge liberalisation." It might =
surprise=20
readers to know that an unexploited but genuine essence of patents is =
not the=20
protection but liberalization of knowledge, which is a macroeconomic =
model=20
containing knowledge production and allocation as constituents to =
describe the=20
dynamics of patent. Such liberalisation would be embodied in IBIP if =
patent=20
incorporated the financial mechanism to drive knowledge =
allocation.
The IPKat=20
would love to hear what his readers think. Adds Merpel, so long as he =
agrees=20
with them ...
The=20
concept of knowledge liberalisation would no longer regard patents as =
a mere=20
innovation protector, but rather as more like a proactive financial =
driver of=20
funding for the largest overall benefit in society.
More =
information=20
appears on the website of the Green=20
Intellectual Property Project, Geneva, =
Switzerland".
<=
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5 comments:
This financial assistance, or "payment of the insurance," would = convince=20 society of the wisdom of patents, and as a result, calm growing global = criticism over patents and uphold societal trust over them. In other = words,=20 the extra fee would serve as a premium for defending patents against = the risk=20 of compulsory licensing and other safeguard flexibilities. =
So, if=20 I understand this correctly, this would provide "insurance" in the = same way=20 that a certain "honourable society" of "upstanding citizens" provides=20 "insurance" to neighbourhood entrepreneurs?
Well, as one such=20 "upstanding citizen" once put it, that's an offer you can't=20 refuse...
Don't patent offices worldwide already require = payment of=20 quite substantial official fees? Isn't that already enough "Tobin = taxation"=20 and "Pigovian taxation"? Shouldn't the proponents of this idea rather = be=20 questioning the use to which those official fees are put, = especially in=20 developing countries?
As for the idea of issuing a translation = waiver=20 in exchange of this "insurance", I really don't believe that = criticism=20 of the patent system would quiet down if there was the idea that = somebody in,=20 say, India, could be sued for infringement of a patent in German (or = that=20 somebody in Germany could be sued for infringement of a patent in = Chinese).=20 And no amount of blather concerning the potential of machine=20 translation and other information technologies is going to assuage my = concern=20 about that.
Patent system reform seems to be attracting more = than its=20 fair share of hare-brained schemes these days, but this one is more=20 hare-brained than most (although possibly quite lucrative for a few=20 people).
"subsidies for purchasing patented products in developing=20 counties"
like Norfolk?
Hmmm...
"Defending patents agains the risk of compulsory=20 licensing".
Then:
"Opportunities for the rejected country to = consider an alternative action such as...compulsory = licensing"
There=20 seem to be some glaring inconsistencies in what is basically a = reworked=20 version of the IP tax, which has been a long suggested "IP for = economic=20 development" measure. I think it was last dealt with by the WIPO PCDA = in the=20 legendary list of 110 proposals, though as I don't have that to hand I = can't=20 be sure.
This has been rejected in the past as not only being = unfair=20 (since the costs of the IP system already act as a tax on innovation) = but also=20 unworkable. The confused nature of this proposal serves to reinforce = the=20 latter objection.
I for one can't wait to see the day when ICT=20 streamlines the patent application system to the extent suggested = here. Bring=20 on PatBot!
"It might surprise readers to know that an unexploited but genuine = essence=20 of patent is not the protection but liberalization of knowledge, which = is a=20 macroeconomic model containing knowledge production and allocation as=20 constituents to describe the dynamics of patent."
This sentence = doesn't=20 strengthen the case for machine-translation. Can anyone explain what = was=20 meant?
If you put it into Google translate and translate it from English = to German=20 and then back from German to English you get the following:
"It = may=20 surprise readers to know that an unused, but real essence of patent = law is not=20 protection, but the liberalization of knowledge, this is a = macroeconomic model=20 with the knowledge and the allocation as components to describe the = dynamics=20 of the patent."
If anything, I reckon the double translation's = made it=20 clearer. Maybe it is an advert for machine translation after=20 all...!!!