[Peace-discuss] What's more important: patent law or human lives?

[J.B. Nicholson]

Just as people seem to be comfortable putting aside capitalism and saying that those 
who "price gouge" by charging ever-increasing prices for hand sanitizer[1], I 
recommend people consider 
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200317/04381644114/volunteers-3d-print-unobtainable-11000-valve-1-to-keep-covid-19-patients-alive-original-manufacturer-threatens-to-sue.shtml 
which is about 3D printing unavailable valves used in breathing equipment which helps 
keep COVID-19 patients alive:

Techdirt writes:
> Techdirt has just written about the extraordinary legal action taken against a
> company producing Covid-19 tests. Sadly, it's not the only example of some
> individuals putting profits before people. Here's a story from Italy, which is
> currently seeing more new coronavirus cases and deaths than anywhere else in the
> world. Last Thursday, a hospital in Brescia, in the north of Italy, needed
> supplies of special valves in order to use breathing equipment to help keep
> Covid-19 patients alive in intensive care (original in Italian). The manufacturer
> was unable to provide them because of the demand for this particular valve. The
> Metro site explains what happened next:

Metro wrote:
> With the help of the editor of a local newspaper Giornale di Brescia and tech
> expert Massimo Temporelli, doctors launched a search for a 3D printer -- a devise
> that produces three dimensional objects from computer designs. >> Word soon reached Fracassi, a pharmaceutical company boss in possession of the
> coveted machine. He immediately brought his device to the hospital and, in just a
> few hours, redesigned and then produced the missing piece.

Techdirt continues:
> Actually, it wasn't quite as simple as that suggests. Business Insider Italia
> explains that even though the original manufacturer was unable to supply the part,
> it refused to share the relevant 3D file with Fracassi to help him print the
> valve. It even went so far as to threaten him for patent infringement if he tried
> to do so on his own. Since lives were at stake, he went ahead anyway, creating the
> 3D file from scratch. According to the Metro article, he produced an initial batch
> of ten, and then 100 more, all for free. Fracassi admits that his 3D-printed
> versions might not be very durable or re-usable. But when it's possible to make
> replacements so cheaply -- each 3D-printed part costs just one euro, or roughly a
> dollar -- that isn't a problem. At least it wouldn't be, except for that threat of
> legal action, which is also why Fracassi doesn't dare share his 3D file with other
> hospitals, despite their desperate need for these valves.
> 
> And if you're wondering why the original manufacturer would risk what is bound to
> be awful publicity for its actions, over something that only costs one euro to
> make, a detail in the Business Insider Italia article provides an explanation: the
> official list price for a single valve is 10,000 euros -- about $11,000. This is a
> perfect example of how granting an intellectual monopoly in the form of a patent
> allows almost arbitrarily high prices to be charged, and quite legally. That would
> be bad enough in any situation, but when lives are at stake, and Italian hospitals
> struggle to buy even basic equipment like face masks, demanding such a sum is even
> worse. And when a pandemic is raging out of control, for a company to threaten
> those selflessly trying to save lives in this way is completely beyond the pale.

Italy is ahead of the US on COVID-19 in terms of COVID-19 infections -- US numbers 
will increase even under the best outcome scenario. So they're experiencing what is 
likely to come for the US.

What's more important: patent law or human lives?

Perhaps someone who valued human life over patent power could get either a copy of 
this 3D file (or a workalike) could get behind a VPN that doesn't log, upload a copy 
anonymously to The Pirate Bay, and get a lot of people sharing in that torrent thus 
keeping that torrent alive.


[1] "Price gouging" is the term used to convey disapproval for what otherwise might 
be called "observing supply and demand", "surge pricing", i.e. obeying what 
capitalism teaches us all to do (and rewards for doing well). The words one chooses 
reveals one's own take on the matter. How bad do things have to get before we too 
critique and reject capitalism?