[QUOTE=HansTWN;532329]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaime_Astorga
So you think this should be illegal (I don't think it would be, under current laws, as long as you didn't trespass or something to obtain the seeds)? And the world shouldn't get filled with this "perfect rose" for everyone to enjoy to allow the person who developed it to make a profit through artificial scarcity?
I think you can obtain a patent for the rose. It doesn't matter, it is just an example. What I am saying is that the world can enjoy the rose and the poor man who devoted his life to developing it also gets something for his work. What I am suggesting is a win-win.
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I believe you meant a cutting, not seeds. (I've been a rose grower for 15 years.) And yes, you are referring to a plant patent. Which, in the US, costs around $2000 US and a lot of paper work to acquire. And it lasts exactly 20 years. Then the rose goes into the public domain, and everybody can take a cutting (copy it) to their heart's (and growing ability's) content.
Yet there's thriving business creating roses. Please explain to me why copyright needs to be Life + 70 (or longer, and longer, and longer...).
EDIT:
I'd like to discuss at more depth. Nobody talks about patent trolls with plant patents, so maybe it won't branch off that way.
Patents on roses work because roses are hard to propagate. Most amateur growers don't even bother.
Other plants, like Irises, propagate like rabbits. Because of that, no breeder bothers to spend the money to get a plant patent. So, with no patent protection, there can't be an Iris business, right? Wrong! There are commercial breeders, just like roses, and there are new hybrids every year, just like roses. And they go for a pretty penny, the first year or two. Then the propagation rate takes over and the price drops like a rock to a couple of bucks. You can get them free if you know somebody who grows that particular variety.
I mention this to show that money can be made with patent or without patent. Somewhat different method, but money is still made.
Yet we're told that civilization will come to an end without massively enforced copyright, that lasts (basically) forever. I'm sorry, I don't see it...