intellectual property

Mismanagement of innovation lies at the heart of food scarcity. Instead of a new Green Revolution based on proprietary restrictions, the use of abundant open source technology can transform a broken “agriopolic” system that is spreading into Africa.

Motorola Mobility has a substantial quantity of uncited precedent innovation that could affect the quality of its intellectual property assets, with nine of the eighteen “stars of the portfolio” patents asserted against Apple last year appearing to be impaired. It is apparent that Google’s purchase relies on quantity over quality for its justification, as only half of their stars have much substance.

Over the past three decades, advances in genomics and other biotechnologies have challenged the way patents connect innovation with markets and consumers. Few industry sectors highlight the corresponding shift in power structures better than agricultural biotechnology (ag-biotech). Patent law has evolved accordingly, using the promise of proprietary protection to allegedly incentivize the research and development (R&D) of technologies with public-good characteristics, such as self-pollinating seed.