this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2023
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I think this is an interesting example, because it's already like this. Songs reusing other sampled songs are released all the time, and it's all perfectly legal. Only making a copy is illegal. No one can sue you if you create a character that resembles mickey mouse, but you can't use mickey mouse.
And pharmaceutical patents serves the same scope, they encourage the company to release publicly papers, data and synthesis methods so that other people can learn and research can move faster.
And the whole point of this is exactly regulating AI like people, no one will come after you because you've read something and now you have an opinion about it, no body will get angry if you've saw an Instagram post and now you have some ideas for your art.
Of course the distinction between likeness and copy is not that defined, but that's part of the whole debacle
It's just a single example, there are endless songs which are samples of samples of samples... Once in a while YouTube content id will have some problems as it's not perfect. It doesn't mean the system is fundamentally flawed. Like saying every car on the planet is cursed because once you got a flat tyre.
Pay attention because the alternative to patents is not a "free for all" approach , it's industrial secrecy. As research is still very much expensive for entities to carry out.
Set aside than, no, extra research benefits everyone in the society as new cures for diseases are discovered faster and medicine evolve organically. Patents were the compromise to ensure companies could monetize their research while sharing their knowledge, are there other possible equilibrium? Sure, but we still have to remember we live in the real world, you can't have a cake and eat it
Oh the legal system is very much messed up, YouTube tried to put a bandage in it. You have to consider that usually you would need a full personalized legal contract for each piece of copyrighted material you use. Content id tries to automate the process, but it's not perfect.
Which is what happens with patents today. The company holding the patent rarely also physical produces the drug, they usually have "manufacturing agreements" expecially in geographic far markets; where they let a second company make the drug with the company holding the patent on it and they are free to sell it in exchange for a percentage of the label price.
That's also what happened with vaccines and many other medications, it's like the standard procedure lol
That's more of a US problem than it is a pharmaceutical patents problem.
Only they are able to benefit from that research at first. Which is how it's always been, new things are rare and expensive at first and become cheaper and more common over time.
That's more of a US problem than it is a pharmaceutical patents problem.
Only they are able to benefit from that research at first. Which is how it's always been, new things are rare and expensive at first and become cheaper and more common over time.