Patent morality

To sum up, the factors that enable the supply side to fix prices above the marginal cost are (a) the imperfect agency relationship between the doctor (the agent) and the insurer (the principal) the prescriber may prefer the brand product, about which he or she has acquired knowledge and experience during the patent period (risk aversion), (b) the patient, and sometimes also the doctor, may have imperfect information on the quality of cheaper alternatives, and (c) the lack of incentives to change prescription habits (moral hazard). 

Singer, P. 1972. Famine, Affluence and Morality. Philosophy and Public Affairs 1 229-243. Sterckx, S. 2004. Patents and Access to Drugs in Developing Countries An Ethical Analysis. 

G. Morales-Balado, R. Flores-Flores, A. Montalvo-Robles, R.E. Diaz De Leon-Gomez, and P. Acuna-Vazquez, Preparation of impact-resistant thermoplastic materials on the basis of styrene/butadiene copolymers with polydisperse blocks, US Patent 7608669, assigned to Dynasol Elastomeros, S.A. De C.V. (Altamire (Tamaulipas), MX), October 27, 2009. 

Martin Austin has asserted his moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work. 

Nevertheless, it should be clarified that innovations are subject to the general rule that the legal and moral effects of an invention must always be judged in relation to the use normally expected of the patented product or process, not just the possibility of misuse. For example, a specific product that can be legally used as a pesticide is not excluded from patentability simply because it can also be used in chemical warfare. 

The Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office made the following comments when questioned about a recent case involving transgenic plants (Novartis G 0001/98), in relation to Article 53(a) of the European Patent Convention (EPC), which establishes that inventions that are contrary to public morality and customs are not patentable ... 

R. Roque-Malherbe, R. Roque and F. Morales, Patent Certificate No. 21059, ONIITEM, Havana, Cuba (1982). 

Ruiz-Duenas FJ, Morales M, Rencoret J et al (2008) Improved peroxidases (Peroxidasas mejoradas). Patent (Spain) P200801292... 

Other problems arise with new chemical compounds and compositions on one hand, and methods to make these compounds and compositions on the other hand. Every chemist knows that the first devised process has a lot of bugs, and it is necessary to determine proper reaction conditions such as concentration, temperature, and the like. Whether or not determination of such conditions is the work of an extended technical arm presents other problems. The determination of the chemical inventor entity is often a difficult problem, and it remains difficult even when all the facts of a particular situation are presented to a solicitor. Most often, the chemist inventor, the chemist joint inventors, and the chemist s technical arm will themselves appreciate what is the correct inventive picture. Chemists have an interest in this problem and should not hesitate to plead their case to the patent solicitor. Solicitors should not be overly officious in pronouncing an inventor entity but should be liberal and have an eye turned towards the morale, working relationships, and working conditions of the chemist. Liberality of course should never become laxity, which would endanger any issued patent. 

Different countries have different bars to patents on particular types of inventions. In Austria, inventions relating to edible salt, explosives, tobacco, and other items of government monopoly are not patentable. In Belgium and Great Britain, contraceptives are held unpatentable on moral grounds. But call them something else, and a patent may be available. 

Copyright 1999 by F. Albert Cotton and Geoffrey Wilkinson 1962, 1966, 1972, 1980, 1988. Authors hereby assert their moral right under the United Kingdom Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988. 

Almost all countries and regional patent conventions have provisions that do not allow patents on the grounds that these are contrary to national laws, principles of humanity, public morality, public health, public safety and for other ethical reasons. 

There is also, in my opinion, a moral dimension to this argument about the human genome. But I rest on the essentials of patent law, along with the advantages to science and commerce. 

I. West moral and. Spirally Wrapped Revere Osmosis Membrane Cell, U.S. Patent 3,367,504,... 

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