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July 04, 2005
On Intellectual Property and Clueless American Git Lawyers (updated)
As I suspect this is too collounsbury for Aqoul, plus must keep my charming side up (ah yes as an aside to lawyerly readers - or one rather - I got the note on the fund issue will reply asap):
Recently I was at a consular event with the charming and dear British club (named after the charmingly porky Churchill) in its charmingly archaic setting, where I had the occasion (I should say the misfortune were I not entertained by the opportunity) to chat with the wife (or lover or some such) of a financial sector contact, a somewhat slump shouldered blonde from the Carolinas (or something like that, I confess my Anglo heretic ancestry and hundreds of years of well founded yanqui contempt for the South leads me to regard the entire southern United States as a backwards swamp of cretins. I can only say that spending a decade as the off and on intimate companion of that rare creature, a black female American bank vice president of Southern extraction only reinforced these prejudices [not in re her, she and her husband are excellent friends of mine to this day]).
The woman turned out to be a lawyer. Pity that, but we can not hold all sins against everyone one. Worse, she turned out to have worked with both my former employer and the clumsy market destroying imbeciles of Monsanto, and she is a specialist in intellectual property. Worse yet, she worked on the bio-engineering issues that I worked on, in the more business end.
I can only say that meeting an attorney who once worked on the benighted market killing legalistic narrow minded scum managed Monsanto�s efforts in genetic engineering provoked me a bit. Worse yet, she claimed to be a �true believer� in intellectual property rights (i.e. a short sighed economically illiterate hack for the market destroying morons).
This provoked a somewhat gauche and unpleasant conversation on IP rights in the region and what I politely called the �rude American idiocy of forcing things beyond any commercial rational.� I believe, if I recall my own inopportune turn of phrase, that in response to her sally re business opportunities (for her benighted American law driven views on IP law) in pharma sector IP rights that it would be �disastrous� and �fucking bloody counterproductive� to sue local firms on pharma doubtful IP infringements (the local market is not known to be a major scofflaw, and follow Euro standards in general) since you end up automatically the bad guy or as I put, �What kind of fucking market do you build suing the impoverished for a percentage? There is no fucking market upside.�
Fucking lawyers. I ranted on (to her evident discomfort, but the bitch only speaks Southern English, not even local languages, I certainly hope she is a good fuck else she is a liability for my amigo � bastard bloody well should not be associated with idiotic market killing Rich Americans sueing impoverished locals) about how lawyers never looked at realistic cost-benefit analyses on pushing suits, above all in re �total cost� to market. Fucking Monsanto followed people like her and fucking blew up the motherfucking gen modified market through their lawyer driven strategy. IPO rights are a social convenience for promoting innovation, not a divine right, and the smart firm in socially sensitive sectors with public policy and PR issues is sensitive to this.
But this idiotic bitch wants to bring American style �super� IP law to the MENA market. I am afraid I was quite rude (despite her intimate connexion with someone I like and respect in my field) about how stupid she was.
Fucking idiot lawyers. ( I note for my readers and in particular certain who I know that this, is aimed at the � well you know who you are and what I am saying. I also despise ignorant empty lawyer bashing, but I think we can agree that this sort of idiocy we mutually despise as counterproductive.)
Now, returning to a bit more substantive reflexion. Property rights are indeed important, and intellectual property rights as well. However, there are always trade offs. Certainly the idiot mentioning in particular enforcing pharma rights rather set me off as if she knew the least thing about international property rights developments, she would know that the Big Pharma companies broke their noses stupidly going after South Africa on this kind of issue (in that instance AIDS drugs), where a softer, less litigatious approach would have served them far better. Bad PR has a cost, above in this kind of business.
Posted by The Lounsbury at July 4, 2005 05:12 PM
Filed Under:
Biz - Private in MENA
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Jan-July 2005
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North Africa
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