Patent Law

Compatible

By Gary Odom and Jordan Kuhn

"We are revising all the doctrines and laws related to patents, which should be compatible with the international treaties that we have signed and respect and honor. Patents have become a barrier to production, and we cannot allow them to be barriers to medicine, to life, to agriculture." Sounds like the Coalition for Patent Fairness, doesn't it? Venezuela is stealing their shtick. South American socialist Hugo Chavez plies his pith: "That a laboratory does not allow us to make a medicine because they have the patent, no, no, no."

Reuter:

Chavez, who has nationalized many Venezuela industries and is critical of the private sector, ordered his trade minister to analyze the patent rules in the OPEC nation.

AP:

Venezuelan officials plan to invalidate some pharmaceutical patents and allow domestic manufacturers to produce licensed medicines, an action that could cause shortages and scare off foreign investment, industry leaders said Sunday.

Chavez also called "on the world to respect Iran" and the election "triumph" of its incumbent president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "Ahmadinejad's triumph was a triumph all the way."

Full post as published by The Patent Prospector on June 22, 2009 (boomark / email).