Mises blog; archived comments below.
No, unfortunately, the patent system is not dying. The title refers to deaths caused by the patent system. According to the BBC News science report, Patent system ‘stifling science’, findings by the Canada-based Innovation Partnership indicate that “Life-saving scientific research is being stifled by a ‘broken’ patent system”. “‘Blocking patents’ are delaying advances in cancer medicine and food crops,” according to the report.
While “[t]he traditional view is that strong patent protection stimulates innovation, reassuring companies that it is safe to invest in research without fear of being stung by rivals,” this strategy “deters grass roots research in universities.” As an example, “Work on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes that can cause breast cancer has been held up by legal disputes over patents held on the genes by Myriad Genetics, a biotech firm based in Utah, US. … Meanwhile, patients in European countries were denied access to the cancer screening kits, because national health services were unwilling to meet the cost.”
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Actually, the problem is that patents are dying. As time goes on and technology increases, they will become exponentially more costly to cope with. They will also become exponentially more valuable to those that possess them. There is an explosive potential for things to reach the point of deadly harm.
The way they held back AIDS drugs in Africa, the way they held back safety devices in cars while millions died, they way that they lead to the development of medicines with harmful side effects, they way they create massive parts incompatibility (causing toil and waste) across the entire market place. These are all signs that the nature of patent is genocidal.
As things like 3d printers and nano technology commoditize invention and bring it into the home, the pressure to micro-control people in their home will become incredible. A look at how the copyright cartel dealt with the internet shows how far they are willing to go, with one exception. Information doesn’t have a physical manifestation, so it’s hard to control it with physical violence.