[governance] The US Department of Justice and USPTO call for compulsory licenses on thousands of "standards-essential" patents

[Suresh Ramasubramanian]

Cc'ing the list back as this point deserves broader discussion

I find the language used offensive which is why I replied.  I assume the historical context of who the rentiers were might escape those who simply find it a powerful catchphrase.

Marx co-opted a term - like several - from the days of the paris commune, where the petit bourgeoisie middle class city dwellers, and the rentiers - slumlords and absentee landlords who oppressed peasants - were the villians in a struggle started by the poor of the city.

While there is a lot to oppose in patents -

1. None of it is even remotely close to the scale of oppression that the actual rentiers Marx had in mind when he used the phrase

2. Marx saw them as class enemies.  Which goes kind of against the entire practice of multistakeholderism where we're supposed to engage with industry, not treat them as an enemy to be eradicated - implicitly, by using - I repeat - stale catchphrases derived from marxism.  Which, I need hardly remind you, has been a failed experiment when it was finally tried in practice and doesn't exist except in one or two stray dictatorships, and in jargon flung around by various people on mailing lists.

If you think the atmosphere is poisonous - I agree.  It is made poisonous by the use of divisive rhetoric in a list that is committed to multistakeholderism.

thanks
--srs (iPad)

On 27-Feb-2013, at 14:15, Jeanette Hofmann <hofmann at internetundgesellschaft.de> wrote:

> I really, really don't understand why you have to be so offensive. What you may find stale and ideological may be powerful language for other people. Can you please stop attacking members of this list and thereby poisening the atmosphere in this space. thank you.
> 
> jeanette
> 
> Am 27.02.13 09:37, schrieb Suresh Ramasubramanian:
>> "exceptionalism", "rentiers" - the point would be made much better without such stale and overused ideological catchphrases.
>> 
>> Anyway - there is plenty of recorded government intervention in the patent system. Worldwide, and in the United States.
>> 
>> --srs (iPad)
>> 
>> On 27-Feb-2013, at 13:53, Riaz K Tayob <riaz.tayob at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> Conceptions of the ecosystems of Internet Governance differ, particularly as relates to legitimacy or exceptionalism issues.
>>> 
>>> At a similar level of abstraction, what this shows is that national choices can have extra territorial effect, namely the policy of low quality patents in the US and the relegation of disputes to the legal system.
>>> 
>>> In addition, there is the local US tension between the old intel prop rentiers in the Pharma (20 year patent) and recording industries (70 y plus copyright) vs the more dynamic and fast moving ICT industry; and perhaps this is an indication that the US has decided to take action on these matters, in order to reap what it has sown. It does indicate that even the sacred cow of the patent system is not beyond the bounds of intervention, which at this level of abstraction should attract critiques of governmental intervention *which for some is presumptively bad.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On 2013/02/27 08:05 AM, Lee W McKnight wrote:
>>>> Actually...one might geopolitically view the USPTO policy change as primarily motivated at forcing a truce among device manufacturers/patent holders.
>>> 
>>> 
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