I'm unconvinced by their pharma argument. Some industries need patent protection. My preferred solution would be for the patent office to set different time limits for different industries, depending on the length of the innovation/commercialization cycle in that particular field.
So if it takes 10 years to develop a new drug and have it approved, give them 10 years of patent protection. If it takes a year to invent and perfect some user interface idea, give them a year's worth of patent protection.
Don't set the time limit on a case by case basis or everybody would claim to have thought about it for 30 years before it came to fruition.
So if it takes 10 years to develop a new drug and have it approved, give them 10 years of patent protection. If it takes a year to invent and perfect some user interface idea, give them a year's worth of patent protection.
Don't set the time limit on a case by case basis or everybody would claim to have thought about it for 30 years before it came to fruition.