SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the fighting-against-the-tide-is-tiring dept.
TechDirt reports
[...] The past few USPTO directors had been cut from the "more patents is always a good thing" mold, whereas Lee actually recognized that bad patents harmed innovation. And even though the last time the Patent Office got concerned about bad patents it allowed the patent approval backlog to fill up, under Lee the backlog has reached its lowest point in a decade.[paywall]
[...] For all the craziness going on in the government right now, having competent leadership at the USPTO would be one less thing to worry about. But... now it's being reported that Lee has suddenly resigned and sent a goodbye email to staff. That's bad news on the patent front.
Of course, it may be ages before any new director is appointed. As I type this, of the 559 key positions requiring Senate confirmation, Trump hasn't even named a nominee for 431 of them. [...] Adding the new USPTO director to that pile may mean no new USPTO director for.... who the hell knows how long.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 07 2017, @05:49PM
With limited resources, there will always be some patients that will not have access. Patents provide a limited-time monopoly to the party responsible for the discovery in order to give them a chance to overcome their investment costs (including their failed drug programs) and turn a profit (market incentive to develop new medicine) before their discovery is available for all to exploit (competitive market forcing a price drop). Suffering from #1 should be temporary (unless you can afford the treatments), while suffering from #2 would be permanent.
You are right to remain unconvinced because drug prices are not reflecting the cost of research alone. The companies are setting their prices as high as the market will bear - this is one of the reasons why prices are lower on non-US markets and why HMOs pay different rates. Generic drug prices will reflect the prices competitors are willing to sell the drugs for (plus how much their marketing departments can convince people to pay a premium for).