I totally agree with this and I think that there should be a total moratorium on new patents until we can come up with a better solution that fits the modern world.

Reshared post from +Ashley Esqueda

I know a lot of you here on G+ are hell bent on this #BoycottApple  thing. 

But do you understand that Apple is merely a SYMPTOM of a much larger problem? The US Patent System is incredibly broken. And since a lot of you are so vehemently charged up about technology/mobile patents, I'm asking you TODAY to get outraged about another sector of the patent system that needs revamping. 

Did you know that drug companies can patent GENES? As in, ones that cause breast/ovarian cancer? Because they can. 

And then they can refuse other lab requests to do research on said gene, therefore stifling any manner of "cure" testing. In fact, if they let a lab test, often that lab has to pay huge fees to license the patent in order to research. 

This isn't just about people's cell phones. This is about human lives. How many more relatives will we lose to a disease whose gene was patented by a pharmaceutical company before we speak up for OUR rights? 

If you want to be mad at Apple, go ahead. Be mad. But realize it's just like being mad at the itchy red spots on your skin when you get chicken pox. Those spots show up because that's what the disease tells it to do.

Combat the disease, not the symptoms. And share this with your offline family, too. People should be outraged by this. 

#NerfPatents

http://www.aclu.org/free-speech-womens-rights/aclu-challenges-patents-breast-cancer-genes-0

Embedded Link

ACLU Challenges Patents On Breast Cancer Genes: BRCA
On May 12, 2009, the ACLU and the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) filed a lawsuit charging that patents on two human genes associated with breast and ovarian cancer are unconstitutional and invalid…

Google+: Reshared 1 times
Google+: View post on Google+

Post imported by Google+Blog. Created By Daniel Treadwell.