The pharmaceutical industry is proof of the profit-powers of patents. There are no controls on how much we must fork out to stay well. Exorbitant drug prices have large parts in the ongoing health-insurance crisis.
Patent protection does not last forever. No corporation can be certain that the flow of new inventions will flow to market unchecked. The very nature of research implies that a company may suffer a dry spell with respect to viable new molecules. Stock investors should back stocks of companies that have the competencies to thrive without patent protection.
Corporations from the third world are arguably more skilled at branding generics, than their American and European peers. Countries such as India have not had product patents in place for decades. Global companies in consumer goods have a similar situation, as neither soaps, nor cell phones are made and sold under any exclusive covers.
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