Answer to Question #49604 in Economics of Enterprise for Christoph

Question

Do patents raise or lower the productivity of research?

Answer 1

Patents are not just for large companies. Patent law in its present form prevents scientists to look, for example, for a cure for cancer and other diseases. Corporations funded not researches capable of defeating cancer, but those that quickly bring the maximum profit. In fact, corporations are choosing the wrong direction, which can happen a real breakthrough, and those where the term of clinical trials will be smaller and the exclusive possession of the market - more.