You know how sometimes a movie looks like it's about one thing on the surface but it turns out to be about something much bigger?That's what happened when I watched the movie Flash of Genius on DVD recently. It stars Greg Kinnear as Robert Kearnes, the inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper. Aside from an examination of the big business of auto accessories and the challenge of genius, it's about intellectual property.
At the end of the movie, it said, "based on the article 'The Flash of Genius' in New Yorker magazine, 1993." I just read that fascinating article, and I posted it here.
The Flash of Genius -
So, that was the year shortly after Robert Kearnes finally won the settlement from Ford, and was around the time the settlements from Chrysler were about to come his way. Kearnes just died in 2005.
My point is that this New Yorker article comes out about this fascinating story of an inventor suing one of the biggest companies in the world, and winning, in 1993. But it wasn't about a lawsuit, nor was the story really about David versus Goliath.
It was about the future of patents and intellectual property. That's what the lesson was for corporate America.
But today, it's a much more complex issue and it's not a war the little guy can win anymore.
Patents are a billion dollar business. I just watched "The Future of Food" recently and learned some startling facts.
Genetic food research is done through patenting of genes. And the level of corporate control over our agricultural system is worrisome. Corporations own genes in corn and wheat!And it's not just agriculture anymore. One of the genes for breast cancer is patented. And researchers working on a cure were no longer allowed to use that gene in their research because a company patented it and charged very high fees to use it. Big pharmaceutical companies have gone into research labs and sued researchers using the genes they own.
This is a disturbing economic trend, and a problem we can't let get out of control.
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