At 11:12 AM 12/1/98 -0800, Caspar Davis wrote:
>With farmers burning Monsanto's test fields of GM cotton and this
>boycott, the rebellion against the corporate enclosure of genetic
>material has begun. I urge all Georgists and other right thinking
>people to participate in any way that they feel is appropriate.
>
>Caspar Davis
>
>***** FORWARDED MESSAGE *****
>
> BIO-IPR resource pointer
> ________________________________________________________
>
> AUTHOR: Nandita Sharma and Allison Campbell, Basmati Action Group
> TITLE: North American Boycott against Rice Tec called
> IN: submitted as campaign announcement to BIO-IPR
The authors of this paper suggest that there is class conflict involved, and
take pot shots at corporations in general as well as against their named
target.
I do not find this approach helpful, however...........
I find no justification for patents of this kind. In fact, I find no
justification for
patent law at all, except for general contract law. Non-disclosure
agreements, I can accept. If a firm wants to protect proprietary knowledge,
databases, and other stuff, it can sign agreements with those it chooses
to grant limited access.
However, ehile as a libertarian I have no particular problem with corporations
per se, I also have a big problem with using the force of government to
prevent people from living freely, and using their own minds to do so.
If someone makes a fast food restaurant and calls it McDonald's, well
I can accept that others should not copy the layout and call it McDonald's,
too. But if they want to call their restaurant Burger King, then they
should not
be infringing any patent. Same with rice.
Victor Levis
Freedom of Choice.......Responsibility for Actions.......Respect for Others
