Re:US Supreme Court to Hear Monsanto Seed Patent Case
by rayiner on Monday February 18, 2013 @09:50PM
(#5242304)
This is the road a strident anti-patent stance leads you down. You end up arguing that capital intensive R&D companies should vertically integrate and get into the business of selling end-user products, because that's the way to protect R&D investment without patent protection. But is that a good solution (ideology aside)? Doesn't that hinder useful things like specialization and division of labor? Isn't it better for Monsanto to focus on genetics and farmers to focus on farming?
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Re:US Supreme Court to Hear Monsanto Seed Patent Case
by javajosh on Monday February 18, 2013 @11:58PM
(#5242717)
If you make a special configuration of life, you should be ready and willing to deal with the consequence of selling that life. E.g. if I buy a purebred puppy from a breeder, does that breeder get to tell me not to breed my dog? No, they don't. And lo and behold, as if by magic, there is still financial incentive in selling specially bred dogs!
Monsanto is just being greedy here, and the net impact on their profits will be minimal even if they lose. There will always be a market for them to sell engineered life "factory fresh" even if people use secondary generation of seed.