Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward
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...
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Maybe it has something to do with the apparent ease of breeding new Irises?
If something is realitively easy to do and most anyone could do it and then make a fair bit of money from that endeavour over the next couple of years then I'm sure lots of people will do it. Then when the money dries up from that flower they just move on to the next one and start the process over again.
By the number of posts relating to how much bad writing there is out then I'm sure you'd agree writing(at least something good that will make a fair bit of money in only a couple of years) is probably not so easy.
So maybe the combination of doing something pretty easy, coupled with the fact you can make a fair bit of money in a couple of years, is why the flower breeding business continues to thrive without the need for patents?
Cheers,
PKFFW