Paul Flynn (Newport West) (Lab):
How many of the hundreds of new jobs that will come from setting up the patent court will be located in the city that has been the home of the brilliantly successful United Kingdom Patent Office, now the Intellectual Property Office, the city of Newport?
The Prime Minister:
I do not know the answer to that question; I will have to look very carefully and, perhaps, reply to the hon. Gentleman. The parts of the court that we will have will be pharmaceuticals and life sciences, an area of great national expertise, and it is a good deal for London and a good deal for the UK.
BTW, does life sciences mean that human DNA patents will be handled here.
If so, the co-discoverer of DNA considers gene patents to be insane.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120702/09044019553/james-watson-co-discoverer-dna-says-patenting-human-genes-was-lunacy.shtml
Posted by: HuwOS | July 03, 2012 at 02:35 AM
It is a pity that we are unifying the process of getting and challenging patents without reviewing the entire system of patents, which increasingly seem to be taxing innovation rather than encouraging it.
There is ample evidence that even in the case of pharmaceuticals (which have more potential justification than others) that the patent system disincentivises competition and innovation and puts unneccesary and undesirable costs onto the consumers and health services.
Prior to 1978 for example Italy had many pharmaceutical companies producing both generic medicines but also investing in R&D and discovering new drugs.
After they went down the patent route under pressure from the international community, the number of pharmaceutical companies declined and Italy went from being a leader in the field to an also ran.
Intellectual property is the issue of the 21st century that must be addressed and drastically overhauled/reformed or even abolished completely and successive governments are basically ignoring the issues and the country will be worse off for it.
Posted by: HuwOS | July 03, 2012 at 02:19 AM