COVID and IP

1. Time to relax IP rules - [1]
2. Take a look at some corporate crime occuring around the pandemic right now, from a paper just published by Dr. Pearce at Michigan Tech. https://www.academia.edu/42639424/Distributed_Manufacturing_of_Open-Source_Medical_Hardware_for_Pandemics In pertinent part - "In the U.S., federal research money was invested in private companies to specifically develop this life-saving technology to prepare for just such a pandemic as is occurring now [264].Public funds were given to a company, Newport, to create a low-cost ventilator, yet the project stalledas Newport was acquired by Covidien, and no ventilators were ever delivered. Both “government officials and executives at rival ventilator companies said they suspected that Covidien had acquired Newport to prevent it from building a cheaper product that would undermine Covidien’s profitsfrom its existing ventilator business.” [264]. Then, Covidien was in turn purchased by Medtronic. Interestingly, Medtronic just obtained a substantial amount of positive press for providing a temporary permissive license for a ventilator and providing some design files [265]. After inspectionof the initial release, although many files were included, both software and CAD files were notapparent. This obviously limits the ability of anyone to replicate the device without Medtronic’s direct assistance. Medtronic may release all files and help as many fabrication facilities as possible build their design until all of the global demand for ventilators is met."