Patent law

A patent is a state-granted, time-limited monopoly intended to compensate the inventor for the effort involved in their research.

However, in my view, patent law poses a serious problem for the efficiency of the global economy and the global distribution of wealth, and I would like to briefly explain why this is the case.

The world is large, and humanity is developing at an unprecedented rate. Technological developments are breathtaking and have the potential to solve all of humanity’s problems to date. Unfortunately, this potential is limited by the fact that free research is hampered by the monopoly position of global corporations. In doing so, current patent law is shamelessly exploited to prevent the independent development of new technologies.

As soon as a new patent is filed, no one is allowed to manufacture and market a comparable product for the next 20 years. This has led to leading corporations focusing their attention on developing and filing new patents. Registered patents often do not ensure that a new technology is made accessible, but rather prevent the spread of a technology.

As soon as a new patent is registered, no one is allowed to manufacture and market a comparable product for the next 20 years. This has led leading corporations to focus their attention on developing and registering new patents. The primary aim here is not to advance humanity technologically, but rather to prevent competitors from gaining a technological advantage. Registered patents often do not ensure that a new technology is made accessible, but rather prevent the spread of a technology. This is actually a paradox, because it does not lead to an increase in the rate of development, but rather to stagnation of all technologies that could potentially replace current market leaders or render them obsolete. In technical fields, it is no longer a question of bringing the most efficient products to market as quickly as possible, but rather of preventing the marketing of efficient technologies until the old patents have been fully exploited. This is clearly fraud. The law is being deliberately abused to secure one’s own monopoly position and nip the technological progress of competitors in the bud.

In addition, patent law means that patented products are marketed at a price that is disproportionate to the manufacturing costs. This is justified by the fact that development and research costs are allegedly very high. However, in many cases this is not true, as the original idea often arises by chance or is developed by independent researchers and then purchased at great expense by corporations. The high costs are then incurred by securing the patent, legal fees, and optimizing the patent application. Ultimately, it is not about optimizing the product, but rather about securing a monopoly. In addition, the employees in management positions involved usually receive huge commissions, which are more like bribes and severance payments than performance-related remuneration.

In the pharmaceutical industry in particular, the serious corruption behind patent applications is clearly evident. Drug manufacturers virtually live off their monopoly position and regularly secure new patents for drugs that are by no means necessary. Vaccines in particular have been a reliable source of income for many decades, as many vaccinations are recommended by health authorities and are even mandatory in many countries. This creates a

Conflict of interest, as health authority employees and health ministers typically receive high bonuses from the pharmaceutical industry.

This is systematic corruption, in which manufacturers are given a monopoly and, in some cases, can regularly sell drugs at the expense of the state that the customer ultimately does not choose for themselves. It is a perfect system for exploiting the state coffers and health insurance funds at the expense of citizens and for the benefit of the pharmaceutical industry. To make matters worse, the cost of drugs is out of all proportion to the cost of manufacturing them. The raw materials for drugs are mostly cheap and available in large quantities, and most drugs cost no more than a few cents per pill to manufacture. Accordingly, the sale of drugs is a business that easily generates regular profits of 10,000%, or a hundred times the manufacturing costs. These profits can be significantly higher for new patents and rare diseases.

The well-known argument that without patent protection there would be no more research and development is a pretext and does not correspond to the facts. Most groundbreaking ideas arise out of necessity or are based on the ingenious idea of a single person. The high research costs that supposedly lead to new developments are nothing more than a pretext to justify the high sales prices of their products. In fact, it would probably be more efficient to allow new inventions to emerge only when there is a real need or even a necessity for them and when the development of a new idea is pursued by many people at the same time. The developed idea should then be offered to all interested companies at the same time and at low cost, so that implementation and production can be carried out as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible and is not limited to a single manufacturer. The inventor would still have the opportunity to earn money from the invention, even if perhaps not a fortune.

Such a shift in thinking within society would reduce many problems at once. It would prevent inventions from being deliberately withheld. It would prevent the emergence of state-protected monopolies and ultimately open up the market to smaller businesses. It would prevent humanity’s wealth from accumulating at the top of huge corporations, thereby ensuring a better balance in the global market. It would prevent products from being sold at many times their manufacturing cost and, by allowing competition, would ensure competition for efficient manufacturing and marketing.

No new laws are needed to prevent monopolies. All that is required is to stop maintaining state protection for these monopolies.