Patents: One of the Biggest Problems in our Economy Today

Current Situation: The Facts

· Patents are for the protection of inventions
· There are three thumbnails (criteria) for the issuing of patents currently:

* Need and usefulness,
* No obviousness
* Originality


· The Patents are all valid for 20 years, for all products
· Patents are only valid within a country, and it is very difficult getting a global patent
· Patent Committees are separate in every city and are not united internationally
· Patents are very bulletproof, and offer a great deal of protection, regardless of the product, and the demand
· They are so strong that the patent holder has monopoly over everything related to that product, and that nothing can done about that power
· Governments subsidize in developing countries


Problematic Areas in the Current Situation

· The ownership of patents have caused monopolies, giving their holders too much power, especially when there is a huge demand for the product (e.g. a wonder drug for cancer)
· The life of a patent is considered to be too long in many cases (e.g. drugs and medicines), and many cases have aroused where people have complained against the uniform life for patents for any products
· The monopolies caused by patents have led to products being priced astronomically high, and thus, lack of access to products by the poor
· Plagiarism and infringement of patents has occurred when patents that are only valid within a country, and those patents are being infringed overseas
· Improvement of a product from the previous product is a criterion that is not being entertained
· The world lacks an international committee that will manage patents internationally and efficiently
· Monopolies cause problems with subsidizing and product availability in developing countries


Proposed Solutions - Guidelines for Issuing Patents
·Our Suggested Base Criteria for the Issuing of Patents:

* Look at Need, Magnitude/Effect on society, and Usefulness: Does the world really need this for development and survival? Will it make a big difference? Will it really be needed (and thus used)? Is it useful to a majority of people?
* Improvement: Is the product and extension of an earlier product? Has it become more useful? Has it become more efficient/powerful? Has it become much better? Is it a new idea, or a copy of another product? Is it unique enough to be awarded a patent? If so it should include more features than the original product and it should be a lot more efficient version.
* The validity of the patent depends on the product and the demand and supply in the market. This validity period will be over when the company receives it’s expected profits.
* Have most of the other properties of the patent such as protection etcetera depend on the properties of the product

Note: Patents are valid in all countries, regardles of the country in which it was filed for

· Create an international organization/committee that is run by funds from individual governments of each country
* Funds will be based on the financial (developing or developed) status of the country-this will affect patent duration &price of product in respective country. ). Every country will be a signatory to this.
* This committee will issue patents that are valid worldwide, so that all international problems of the kind are eliminated
* This committee decides whether or not a product will get a patent based on the guidelines of issuing above.
* This committee can buy patents from pharmaceutical Companies (and companies for other products) -
§ To ensure that the incentive of companies does not die
§ To ensure that the product is available in the market at affordable prices of respective nations based on their financial development.
§ To ensure that the products are within the reach of developing countries by reducing prices making it affordable in local market.
§ Price reduction in a country is based on its GDP/development.
* This committee has a database of all recorded patents (patent profiles)
§ Will have a record of every patent under two categories:
· Valid
· Expired
§ Can use a search engine and can pull up patents based on properties
* Incentive is promoted through reward of compliance and penalization
* No Heirarchy, no permanent members like in the UN, all countries are signatories
§ Law is formed by “Law representatives” from each country, and each country’s view is entertained


This international patent organization will try to reduce problems as much as possible so that the patent directives are fair for both sides- business and ethical/social. It will prevent violations of international patent law. It will also provide reach of products to countries of lower financial status by differential pricing.

Our Current System will Prevent the End of Terrorism

We currently live in a world where terrorism seems an inevitable part of our lives. Every week we hear about terrorists killing five people, taking twenty hostage, or planting bombs somewhere in the world. Every time this happens, we look to our leaders for support, all we see is their fake 'efforts to prevent such a horrible event to happen again', corruption, and little hope that anybody will take a strong stance ever. How on earth will our countries survive, if all our governments care about is their political power and wealth? We, the common people of our countries, can do little more than 'very strongly' express our unhappiness and how dangerous life is turning out to be. The rest is in our governments hands. We as citizens should not accept "the situation is very complicated, and we need to plan our next move" as an excuse. It has been years since the CIA has uncovered the locations of the major terrorist camps, and other countries like the US have sent thousands of soldiers to Afghanistan in an effort to end terrorism. What drags and hinders India? Politics. Congress, being in power, cannot go after Muslim terrorists. We ask ourselves, why? They would lose out on Muslim votes in the next election and would be out of power. Politics is what rules us, and will eventually kill all of us, unless there is a dramatic change in our government very soon.

Spore: Experiencing Evolution

"Your universe in a box". That is the catch-phrase of Spore, the 2008 computer game that is capturing millions of fans around world. Spore, a simulation game, is a way of experiencing and understanding the concepts behind evolution. In Spore, players go through five stages that show the evolution of an organism from a single cell to an organism that manages terrorism, inter-galactic trade, and politics. This sounds rather ambitious, and to make things even better, you create your environment, creature, and then play around with your creations. You are presented with a myriad of options to tinker around with, interact with and use other people's creations, and then proceed on with your own storyline. While you catch food, trade and make other species extinct, a time line is automatically built that records all your major actions, and basically tells your story and how you evolved. Here is an overview of the 5 stages.

1. The Cell Stage: This stage basically shows you the ropes of the game. AS a cell, you eat enough to survive, try to kill smaller fish and then stay away from the bigger fish.

2. The Creature Stage: You have moved out of the water, and have developed a torso and limbs. You now can find body parts, mate, and most importantly, interact with other creatures. You either make species extinct or you become allies, in order to expand your brain and evolve. You can also, as your intelligence develops, build packs and other intelligent things

3. The Tribal Stage: Now you do not control a single creature, you control a tribe! You can give instructions to them as to how to manage money, invasions and provisions; to win the race to become the first civilization.

4. The Civilization Stage: Now you have united all the tribes to form a civilization, but you find that other civilizations have been formed. Your job is to unite with all of your species' civilizations to become a galactic empire. Here is your first major decision: your civilization will have to choose its function, and this will affect the 4th and 5th Stages. You can become military, economic, or religious. As the military you sign treaties and declare war to expand your civilization; as a economic you trade with other civilizations and eventually try to buy them; and as a religious society you try to convert other civilizations and try to have them join your philosophy. Eventually, once you have conquered all the civilizations, you have become an empire.

5. The Space Stage: This definitely the coolest stage of the game. As an explorer/merchant/'Pope'/Soldier for your civilization, you fly around the galaxy achieving medals for doing various tasks.

All in all-a brilliant game, probably the best of 2008! A must buy for anyone!

The Home-Schooling Groundswell

As of 2008, more than 2 million children in the US and millions more around the globe have joined the growing homeschooling movement. Why is this becoming a popular option? Parents generally tend to home school children when they feel that the school environments aren't suiting a child's needs or simply because they feel a child will benefit more when studying at home. However many children are being homeschooled for different reasons as well.

A recent survey showed that 43% of the homeschooled children in America were being home schooled due to religious reasons. Many people feel that modern school culture and violence mar old religious principals, and thus withdraw them from school. Several churches around the US have advocated home schooling through sermons.

Home schooled children haven't performed badly either. The 1st and 2nd place winners of the 2007 Scripps National Spelling Bee were home-schooled. The Princeton class of '06 valedictorian was homeschooled, and homeschooled students tend to score 15-30 points more than schooled children on standardized tests.

I, myself as a homeschooled student feel that it is a better option. It gives me freedom to channel my attention accordingly, based on my strength in subjects. Not being in a big class itself helps, with more attention and concentration. Besides that, homeschooling gives me certain freedom, which can be devoted to a wide range of extra-curricular activities. Comparing my two educational experiences, homeschooling definitely allowed me to develop more through the different learning environment.