Post #2662404

2021-04-26 20:16 UTC

there was also apparently legal questions of "but we're using everybody's research, can we even patent this thing?" that went into the decision to just not patent it and i think you could very convincingly make a similar case for the covid-19 vaccine, as there was a great effort to pool resources and data to get a solution as quickly as possible ...now if only somebody had enough money to hire enough fancy lawyers to ominously shake that particular can full of pennies at the situation

Replies (3)

@wigglytuffitout@elekk.xyz 2021-04-26 20:16

BAD CAPITALISM! BAD! SST! :spray_bottle:

Open ##2662405
@wigglytuffitout@elekk.xyz 2021-04-26 23:47

honestly the more i think about it the more this becomes a "i wish the capitalists would fucking pretend to at least be competent about doing a capitalism" like ok imagine you're a company holding a vaccine patent you've got countries around the world threatening to, as there is an ongoing international crisis, just take it anyway. getting money after that may as well be like getting blood from a stone you've been given government funding for development of this anyway, so the cost of that (often the most expensive part!) is highly subsidized there may be complex legal issues of how much you own of the damn thing anyway you're already riding a wave of good press for making the vaccine why not double down and say... "we're making the patent free!!!!" it is potentially the best investment in PR you could ever fucking make. your company would wear that halo for years if not DECADES after that. the general public will go "oh, that company! the heroes that made the vaccine free so anyone could make it around the world!". plus you will be using it now as leverage especially in those places threatening to just take it. suddenly your company goes from enemy of the state to new savior. it could be a wonderful foothold to expand your business into an entirely new country. i do not think you could ever run a super bowl ad or pay for enough reps to go around to doctor's offices to ever meet that kind of impact. and if you ran the numbers, this is probably going to be one of the most effective forms of advertising that anyone could ever come up with. plus it's not like you will entirely not get any money as things continue. you still have your factories set up ready to make the thing - giving you a crucial lead as opposed to other places that have to scramble to also set up production. in fact, many places might see your company in such a favorable light that they'll buy vaccines from you anyway, because "they've been so generous! it's the least we can do, really, to reward them for being so heroic!" this is a fuckin no brainer!!!!!!!!

Open ##2662406
@meena@glitch.social 2021-04-27 05:13

@wigglytuffitout@elekk.xyz plus, how many nation states pushed hundreds of millions into the research, and are now buying those hundreds of millions back for ten times that price? how many poor countries could only benefit from this shit during the testing phases, and now that we've successfully experimented on them, they are cut off, unless they pay five times what Western nations are paying?

Open ##2662413