I emphasize here: nothing is absolute, the ancients said? Too much? If you go too far, you will go to the opposite side. Therefore, we should also have an objective and calm attitude towards intellectual property rights. The United States uses the World Trade Organization (WTO) to closely link trade with intellectual property rights, and intellectual property rights have become sacred and inviolable objects. For some Americans, it is even more important than freedom and democracy. The purpose is to take advantage of unfair position and make money everywhere under the guise of free trade. And the result of this kind of intellectual property protection will cause great harm. Let's illustrate it with examples.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Argentina's economic strength once ranked eighth in the world. By 1980, Argentina's gross national product ranked about 10 in the world, with little change. However, in 200 1 year, Argentina's ranking fell to 17, and in 2008 it fell to 33rd place, followed by Thailand, Portugal and Hong Kong. Another survey in 2007 showed that Argentina's national comprehensive competitiveness fell to the 69th place in the world, that is to say, Argentina is still in a downward trend. Why has Argentina experienced such a serious retrogression in about 20 years? There are many reasons, which are difficult to explain at once. Here, from the perspective of intellectual property, let's examine how Argentina's acceptance of American intellectual property economy destroyed its agriculture and animal husbandry.
In the 1970s, Argentina had to borrow a lot of loans from several American banks in response to the soaring world oil prices, and these loans became an important tool for the United States to manipulate Argentina. During this period, the United States also supported a military coup in Argentina, resulting in tens of thousands of Argentine citizens? Missing? I won't say this. However, it is obvious that Argentina's foreign debt in dollars became the dominant force of its future fate. From 65438 to 0989, Menem, who was very close to American President George H.W. Bush, was elected President of Argentina. He immediately implemented radical privatization and liberalization in Argentina according to the prescription of the United States, involving medical care, education, industry, agriculture, finance and other fields. This move is not new, it is called. Shock therapy? . When the former Soviet Union disintegrated. Shock therapy? It has also been extended to the countries of the former Soviet Union, with the aim of realizing the instantaneous and complete transformation from nationalization to privatization, and a lot of corruption will inevitably be born in this process.
In 1990s, Argentina started the agricultural revolution according to the plan of the United States. 1995, Monsanto, an American super agricultural enterprise, successfully developed a genetically modified soybean, named Kangnongda. Why is it called Agricultural University? It is the name of a herbicide patented by Monsanto, that is, an insecticide. So, genetically modified soybeans? Anti-rounding? Can this kind of soybean resist? Agricultural university? Herbicide. In ancient times? Spears and shields? This story is just right for Monsanto in the United States. Spears and shields are made by Monsanto and then sold to Argentina together.
In many countries, it is inconclusive whether transgenic plants are safe for people and animals. The US government departments have no testing regulations on this and hand it over directly to Monsanto and other enterprises. Self-discipline? This problem will be discussed later. Scientifically speaking, anti-round-up? Before drawing any conclusions about the safety of soybeans, Argentines began to become a large number of human beings doing live experiments. And, most importantly, anti-rounding? Genetically modified soybeans and? Agricultural university? Pesticides must be used together. There are almost no weeds in the farmland except one soybean, but this is only the beginning.
Argentina's original agricultural diversity is rich, and farmers are reluctant to plant genetically modified soybeans. Monsanto in the United States initially attracted farmers with very favorable conditions, and claimed that the output was very high, and all of them were acquired by Monsanto after harvest. However, Monsanto evaded a substantive question:? Anti-rounding? And then what? Agricultural university? Are all Monsanto's own patented products, is there a charge? Monsanto doesn't even talk about this, but only tells farmers how good their products are. Try to encourage Argentine farmers to buy Monsanto products and expand the use area as soon as possible. In this process, Monsanto even personally manipulated its own smuggling activities of genetically modified soybean seeds, not only to Argentina, but also to neighboring countries such as Brazil through Argentina. The purpose of this smuggling activity is to make the market selling price of Monsanto's seeds and pesticides lower, which is actually an infringement of Monsanto's intellectual property rights. However, people are willing to invade themselves, and you can't help it. If someone reports it, Monsanto doesn't care. Does this behavior look familiar? When Microsoft products are sold in many parts of the world. Infringement? At that time, Microsoft just ignored it and didn't care. Now people say that occupying the market is a step, and one day they will charge you some money.
With the promise of low price and high yield, favorable conditions and self-directed smuggling, roundup-resistant soybeans spread rapidly in Argentina, and the planting area of genetically modified soybeans was second only to that of the United States, becoming the second in the world at that time. A few years later, 1999, Monsanto asked all farmers to pay? Deferred patent fee? . In other words, I let you go a few years ago, and now the old and new accounts are counted together. Remember that Microsoft did the same thing? Farmers dismissed Monsanto's treachery, and Monsanto immediately publicized it through public relations. Research and development? It took a lot of money to collect fees to recover the investment, but what about Argentine farmers? Theft? This behavior harms the interests of American enterprises and violates the spirit of protecting intellectual property rights. This argument is so familiar that you can hear it everywhere. Of course, what is the position of Menem's government? International rules? a party
What if farmers are unwilling to pay? Monsanto naturally has a way. With the expansion of the planting area of genetically modified soybeans, the export of genetically modified soybeans has become the main income of Argentine farmers, but the export of soybeans is also in the hands of Monsanto. Monsanto announced that if Argentine farmers don't pay fees, they will charge in the export market, and their income will be higher, which means that Argentine farmers' soybeans will lose the international market and lose their sources of income. Argentine government? Have to? Reach an agreement with Monsanto. From planting to export, soybeans need to be processed, stored and transported in China. Although the farmers are scattered, the processing, storage and transportation are relatively concentrated, and they are also under the control of big companies such as Monsanto. Therefore, the Argentine government stipulates that in the processing link, each farmer is charged 1% of the sales. Royalties? . Farmers can only pay their fees obediently.
So, has the patent of genetically modified soybeans brought benefits to Argentine farmers? The yield of genetically modified soybeans began to be very high, and after a few years, it began to decrease, and it was no longer as good as advertised. What about the cost? In the past, farmers planted crops mostly for themselves without spending money. The reason for spending money on American seeds is higher yield and resistance to pests and diseases. However, the output decreased, the profit margin became smaller and smaller, and then there was an inevitable commission. After a few years, match? Agricultural university? Due to the emergence of herbicide resistance, the use of herbicides has to be doubled. Agricultural university? Super weeds, even weeds are resistant. Herbicide is also an American patent, which is protected by intellectual property rights. The direct cost has increased, not counting the indirect cost of harming the environment and human body.
Crucially, the sale of soybeans is also controlled by Monsanto. The so-called free market economy, the purchase price is completely determined by Monsanto itself. Faced with smaller and smaller profit margins, farmers have to expand their land planting area if they want to maintain their past income level. If everyone expands, many farmers will lose their jobs, which will also lead to conflicts among farmers. Moreover, farmers have no balance except their livelihood because their profits are too low. They can only borrow money from Monsanto every year to buy American genetically modified patented seeds and pesticides, and when they can't afford it, they have to sell their land. Ten years later, a large number of Argentine farmers lost their jobs, and Argentina's soybean production ranked among the top in the world, and all the profits went into the pockets of Americans with intellectual property rights. Argentina's own agriculture has been basically destroyed, and the soybean planting area accounts for 48% of the domestic land. A large number of forests and grasslands have been destroyed, and the ecological environment and animal husbandry have been severely hit at the same time. From the popularization of American genetically modified soybeans in Argentina, it can be seen that the protection and abuse of intellectual property rights have caused harm to Argentine farmers, which is also an important reason why Argentina fell from the top of the world 10 to the 30th place.
Especially? Anti-rounding? With what? Agricultural university? The relationship. In the computer industry, there is a crime of designing computer viruses, spreading them, and then launching their own highly targeted anti-virus software. From the commercial concept, this is called creating the market first, inducing the market, and then promoting the products on a large scale. This kind of behavior has been clearly defined as a crime in our country and belongs to fraud. Many genetically modified seeds in the United States have separate pesticides, and the principle is similar to that of the computer industry to make viruses and sell anti-virus software, but no one says it is fraud. No wonder Americans regard biotechnology as the next focus of economic growth, and no wonder they care so much about their intellectual property rights. Making computer viruses and selling anti-virus software are extremely common in the field of biotechnology in the United States. What tricks will appear in the future, wait and see. Once genetic chickens and pigs in the United States can be commercialized, a virus targeting non-genetic chickens and pigs is likely to suddenly become rampant.
An article mentioned that Americans have invested a lot of money in the research and development of genetically modified organisms. Once they succeed, they must try their best to promote their use, even at the expense of war. Well-meaning friends don't think so. Let's give another example. After the American occupation of Iraq, Iraq immediately enacted a series of laws, including allowing American genetically modified agricultural products to be promoted in Iraq without barriers. The patented product of an American company is sunflower, which is genetically modified and has a high oleic acid content. However, this American patent includes not only the genetic technology of sunflower seeds, but also the oleic acid content. How to understand? To put it more bluntly, for example, I invented a technology that can make a pig grow to 300 kg. I not only applied for a patent for this technology, but also applied for a patent for a 300 kg pig. In other words, I can charge anyone in the future and make the pig grow to 300 Jin in any way. This protection of intellectual property rights has reached an absurd level, and it is no exaggeration to say that it is the villain of intellectual property rights. The United States actually approved such intellectual property rights to obtain patents, but also vigorously protected them, which is tantamount to stifling all other technological innovations. This is one of the things that the United States is doing in Iraq.
IT technology led a wave of economic growth in the United States in the late 20th century, and its main source of income was intellectual property rights. When the United States says that the next wave of economic growth is biotechnology, many means of protecting intellectual property rights in the IT field are being applied to biotechnology. For example, the United States Department of Agriculture and an American company jointly developed a kind of? Suicide? Seeds, also known as? Terminator? This kind of seed will automatically kill the germ after planting once, so it can't be used as a seed (note that this is a transgenic technology, not a hybrid technology). This method ensures that growers must buy seeds every year. This technology can be called in the IT field? Self-destruction? Program, if an electronic file is copied, it will be automatically destroyed. No one even dares to use this technology in the computer industry, but the United States intends to promote it in the agricultural field. Many people say that this technology is too overbearing, and Americans have improved this technology. They made one for the seed? Activate? Gene, only with the patentee's own products (such as solvents), the germ development of seeds can be activated. The concept of this technology is the same as that of IT software industry. But if computers go too far in this respect, people will not die without computers, and at most they will return to the era of handwriting. But in the agricultural field, all the seeds have been patented by the United States after genetic improvement, so people have to pay for every bite of rice. This one above? Activate? Genes can be regarded as a kind of? Switch? In theory, the United States can set switches at all stages of plant growth, such as once for germination, once for flowering and once for results. Every activation, every switch, under the protection of American intellectual property rights, people have to pay, at least the United States has every reason to collect money from people.
Therefore, we should have more understanding and in-depth understanding of the intellectual property protection advocated by the United States in the world. Proper protection should be, and excessive protection should not even be a crime.
The madness and unbridled degree of the United States in its own intellectual property protection, especially in the field of biotechnology, is simply staggering.