An Example of Multinational Corporate Evil

You may have heard of Andre Geim, he won the Nobel Prize in physics for developing graphene, which is a form of carbon specially structured for nanotech applications. When asked why he never patented graphene, he told Nature News how it is:

We considered patenting; we prepared a patent and it was nearly filed. Then I had an interaction with a big, multinational electronics company. I approached a guy at a conference and said, "We've got this patent coming up, would you be interested in sponsoring it over the years?" It's quite expensive to keep a patent alive for 20 years. The guy told me, "We are looking at graphene, and it might have a future in the long term. If after ten years we find it's really as good as it promises, we will put a hundred patent lawyers on it to write a hundred patents a day, and you will spend the rest of your life, and the gross domestic product of your little island, suing us." That's a direct quote.

I considered this arrogant comment, and I realized how useful it was. There was no point in patenting graphene at that stage. You need to be specific: you need to have a specific application and an industrial partner. Unfortunately, in many countries, including this one, people think that applying for a patent is an achievement. In my case it would have been a waste of taxpayers' money.

It's so great we live a a free-market economy where inventors can enjoy the fruits of their labor. I mean, it's so great that we reward achievement in this country. You only need a really wealthy corporate patron to get ahead. However, note that they will never let you get too uppity. They will farm your mind, but they intend to reap the profits. They will not allow you to get big enough to compete with them, as I intend to prove in upcoming posts.