[GA] At Vote: Repeal "The General Patent Charter" [Complete]

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Description: WA General Assembly Resolution #93: The General Patent Charter (Category: Free Trade; Strength: Mild) shall be struck out and rendered null and void.

Argument: Affirming the practice of granting inventors certain exclusive rights associated with their inventions in exchange for the detailed public disclosure of that invention, which promotes scientific and technological innovation,

Believing that World Assembly harmonization of patent law, as attempted by GAR #93, "The General Patent Charter", is necessary, as the effectiveness of patents is substantially reduced when other member states fail to recognize them,

Regretting, however, that the target resolution's myriad flaws necessitate its repeal,

Concerned that the target resolution fails to clarify the extent to which member nations are required to recognize the validity of patents issued by other member nations, especially:

whether the right of national patent offices to renew patents under clause 2 of the target resolution compels all member nations to recognize such a renewal, as patents must always be "recognized in all member countries" under clause 1 of the target resolution,

whether, if this is in fact the case, this seemingly unrestricted renewal right would effectively allow a single member nation to prevent a patent from entering the public domain in all member nations indefinitely,

whether, if this is not the case, the target resolution effectively prohibits all member nations from renewing patents, as patents must always be "recognized in all member countries" under clause 1 of the target resolution,

Saddened that this lack of clarity largely prevents the target resolution from accomplishing its stated purpose of ensuring the "mutual recognition of patents issued by member countries,"

Disappointed that the target resolution fails to provide adequate protection against "submarine patents", or patents whose issuance and publication are intentionally delayed with the intent of launching litigation against infringing industries that developed during the delay,

Alarmed that the target resolution compels member nations to offer patent protection to domestic inventors, even though member nations may prefer to implement some other form of recognition for intellectual property for their own citizens, which is an issue with no international significance,

Hoping that a replacement resolution governing the foreign recognition of patents will soon be passed,

The General Assembly,

Repeals GAR #93, "The General Patent Charter".

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Please vote: For | Against | Abstain | Present

"Abstain" means that you wish for the Delegate to not vote on the resolution at all.
"Present" means that you effectively choose not to participate in this vote. "Present" has no effect on how the Delegate votes.

Posts which do not include an explicit and unambiguous vote are not counted in the tally.

Ministry vote recommendation: For

Ministry Review
Written by HMS Unicorn

This proposal is looking to repeal GA#93 "The General Patent Charter". This is a resolution that has been widely acknowledged as problematic ever since its passage. The author of the original resolution has themselves recognized its faults.

The repeal proposal adequately outlines the problems of the patent mechanism included in the original resolution. In particular, the patent mechanism, depending on its interpretation, either allows a single WA nation to indefinitely prevent patents from taking effect in all WA nations in the world; or prohibits all WA nations from renewing patents. No matter which interpretation is adopted, the patent mechanism is disfunctional.

For this reason, we recomment a vote in support of the repeal.

This goes to vote next minor.

A couple of points worth noting. First, you may also know the author by the name Auralia. Second, should the repeal be successful, the author intends to submit a replacement proposal, which can be read here.

I haven't had the chance to read through this yet, so for now I'm abstaining. I'll try to read both proposals as well as the GA threads before this goes to vote.

The fact that the mechanism in The General Patent Charter didn't work was pointed out at the time of the resolution and has frequently been pointed out ever since, so regardless of the stance on the replacement, the repeal does make a reasonable case.

Against

Against

For

For.

For

Against.

Having now read both, I'll vote For. We can decide independently on repealing the original and passing the replacement. Like Acoustic Siberia said, the original is flawed and should be repealed.

I cound 3-0-4, so I voted Against in-game, shortly after this went to vote.

I see Tomb has changed his vote. This is now 4-0-3, so I have switched the in-game vote.

Voting on this resolution has ended.

Thanks to those nations who cast their votes. Your participation is a great help to the region.

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