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I picked this example because it is one area where the law is doing real harm and its operation is difficult if not impossible to effectively defend. We have scientific knowledge being locked-up for no good purpose. The public interest is being damaged for the profit of largely a single organisation. It is not the only area where these now ridiculous laws do not work. Patents often make new drugs, some life-saving, prohibitively expensive, and people literally die for the lack of their affordability. In this area there is of course the argument that such drugs would never have been invented without the statutory monopoly a patent grants. And there is some validity to this argument. However, now that the serious inadequacies of this approach have become apparent, it is long past time that we look at whether there are other, more appropriate methods of conducting and rewarding research. Even if there are not, we need to look at whether the current provisions are too generous and at ways of ameliorating at least the worst of the unwelcome effects. But the current situation in academic publishing really calls for an abolition of intellectual property rights in this area.
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