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A comment on Half of taxpayer funded research will soon be available to the public. Parent comment

Re:Half of taxpayer funded research will soon be available t... by Houshalter on Tuesday January 21, 2014 @01:54AM (#7093848)
The point is sending the patent into the public domain so anyone can exploit it. You could argue that the monopoly of the patent creates an incentive to monetize it. I am skeptical of that, but if it's true, then the government could auction the patent instead and at the very least recoup some of their money from it. If no one wants to buy it, then it can go into the public domain.
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Re:Half of taxpayer funded research will soon be available t... by mogrim on Tuesday January 21, 2014 @04:06AM (#7094190)
So what happens when the US government funds the research, and a Chinese company just uses it and makes the money?
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Re:Half of taxpayer funded research will soon be available t... by wtracy on Tuesday January 21, 2014 @04:17AM (#7094222)
Exactly what happens now: Nothing. US patents aren't enforceable in China to begin with.
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Re:Half of taxpayer funded research will soon be available t... by mogrim on Tuesday January 21, 2014 @07:46AM (#7094894)
They become enforceable when the Chinese company exports them back to the US, though.

I wonder if the US government could offer free licensing to all national companies, which would seem to be the best of both worlds?

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Re:Half of taxpayer funded research will soon be available t... by betterunix on Tuesday January 21, 2014 @07:48AM (#7094896)
What difference does that make? Everyone benefits from the results of research.
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Re:Half of taxpayer funded research will soon be available t... by mogrim on Tuesday January 21, 2014 @10:13AM (#7095686)
I tend to agree, but you could argue that as US taxpayers are paying for the research it would be stupid/unethical/incorrect not to maximise any potential profit from its results.

(Note: I'm not a US citizen, I'm British. s/US/UK/ and the basic result is the same...)

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