Venezuela has announced plans to invalidate the patents on a number of medicines and allow local firms to produce cheap generic copies of them, under a reform that would gut the country’s intellectual patent laws.
According to President, Hugo Chavez, “we consider that patents cannot be a restriction or a trap ... An invention or a scientific discovery should be knowledge for the world, especially medicine,” said Chavez, adding: “that a laboratory does not allow us to make a medicine because they have the patent - no, no, no.”
The proposals were announced on national television by the Minister of Trade, Eduardo Saman, who told the nation that “patents have become a barrier to production, and we cannot allow barriers to the access of medicine or transnational medicine companies to impose their rights on the Venezuelan people."
“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,” he added.
But, there’s always enough money to invest in a vast military. So much for “respect and honor.
According to President, Hugo Chavez, “we consider that patents cannot be a restriction or a trap ... An invention or a scientific discovery should be knowledge for the world, especially medicine,” said Chavez, adding: “that a laboratory does not allow us to make a medicine because they have the patent - no, no, no.”
The proposals were announced on national television by the Minister of Trade, Eduardo Saman, who told the nation that “patents have become a barrier to production, and we cannot allow barriers to the access of medicine or transnational medicine companies to impose their rights on the Venezuelan people."
“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,” he added.
But, there’s always enough money to invest in a vast military. So much for “respect and honor.
