Ray
& Chris: I’m not very versed
in patents, but found a historical footnote interesting, at least for US
implications and enduring impact:
the Wright Brothers spent a lot of time and effort filing patents on
their airplane, trying to monopolize development. There was another man named Curtis who
first flew from city to city, and sold the first airplane, demonstrating his
grasp of application, but in opposition to the efforts of the Wright Brothers
to keep the benefits to themselves.
They say that the Wright Brothers spent most of their time after Kitty
Hawk filing patents, not continuing with their invention.
This
is a gross simplification, but over time, this patenting of airplane
technology became so restrictive that it was finally abandoned lock stock and
barrel, so that in the ongoing years of great US innovations in aeronautical
design and technology, US companies provided a lot of free R&D for their
European competition. One extreme
led to a different consequence than originally intended.
Isn’t
it interesting how the actions of a few individuals at a crossroads of
history, science and politics can influence history, if not change
it?
Bush
and the fundamentalists are at such a crossroads of medical research
today. US scientists defecting to
the UK to work is the least of it.
My
father, who lost one kidney to cancer and a younger cousin with Type I
diabetes, might benefit someday by progress in stem cell research into organ
replacement, so the debate about this is personal for me. We are again looking at another
battleground where the modernists and the fundamentalists are waging war.
Karen
