I feel like this kinda tech should be more widely available if it's for health reasons, to avoid a monopoly on something vital.
this post was submitted on 18 Jan 2024
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Patents literally are a government granted time-limited monopoly. There are a number of reasons why the government grants these monopolies. Perhaps, the ethics of medical patents should be debated, but if we collectively don't grant patents on vital medical technologies, then I think it is unlikely that corporations are going to invest billions developing and testing life saving drugs. (Another debate: are private corporations the best stewards of developing this technology.)
For now, this is the system we've engineered ourselves into a corner with.
I don't really care about some blood oxygen monitor in a smart watch, but inadvertently destroying the pharmaceutical industry over it probably ought to be carefully considered.
Inadvertently destroying the pharmaceutical industry would be one of the best possible outcomes.
Unless you're currently sick but hey sacrifices need to be made
I didn't say anything about stopping the manufacture of medications. There are any number of ways that could be handled which would be an improvement over our current pharmaceutical industry.
I mean, if you got super sick in America right now… I bet you’d be thinking “oh fuck, this is going to cost me.” So, even though we have all this fancy medicine, how many people in the end actually get that medicine? Who Can afford it? Look at Ozempic and Wegovy, it’s for diabetics and pre-diabetics I believe, but there is a shortage on it because affluent people will shell out hundreds to lose weight.
Doesn’t the government usually fund drug research and development?
In the U.S., private companies spend about 5x on drug development than the government. The numbers are probably fuzzier than that though because I don't think the government spending numbers capture things like grants to graduate students working on drug research.
Sorry but that’s such a ridiculous assertion. Companies wont innovate if they can’t hold a monopoly on what they make? Thank God one company has a patent and monopoly on touchscreens or companies would never have made smartphones, and the patent on routers saved us from never having the internet… patents are bullshit and should be banned. Monopolies don’t help innovation they stifle it and billion dollar conglomerates dont need more power to continue seeking profit.
Not to mention the fact that they get the money for developing these drugs from the government lmaooo
"It's not enough that a company has a working product and a captive audience (sick people in need) but we need to ensure they're the only ones that are able to bend these sick people over to profit off it."
Yeah you're right, it is as dumb as it sounds.
You spent 2 billion dollars developing a cure for x? I reverse engineered your cure for $30k (or just looked up your formula in your regulatory filings for free), so I can sell the same product for much cheaper than you since I don't have any development costs to recoup. If you can't protect your investment, you won't make the investment.
The problem here is not the patent system. The problem is relying on private for-profit industry to develop drugs. Not enough people get your ailment for a cure to be profitable? Sorry, you are SOL. Also, the current system incentivises developing maintenance drugs over cures. That's one of the big reasons Type 2 diabetes has met metformin, janumet, glipizide, farxiga, ozempic, etc. All of those drugs are symptom management rather than treatments. A treatment would be a financial disaster for big pharma.
Theirs isn't the only way and apple could have purchased the license to use it but opted to rip off mosimo instead. Notice that samsung and many other watch manufacturers with pulse ox aren't affected by this. Only Apple.
I've checked my samsung watch against actual medical pulse ox monitors I have access to and they're within 1% of each other in heart rate (within a couple bpm, at least) and oxygen saturation do they seem as accurate.
Also, Apple does not claim to be a medical device. Neither does samsung. They aren't opening themselves up to all the liability and extra hoops for that, so no one should be medically relying on them, even if they do appear to be working as such.
There are other options on the market from what I understand, Apple just really liked how one company did it. Not enough to just license it like a normal company though, they opted to gut the company that made it.
I think you just answered the question why monopolists are working so hard at preventing that.
The blood oxygen sensor on the watch is a novelty and is not a medical device. It's not accurate enough to provide any actual medical help.
Apple crying foul when caught abusing IP. Yet when they have it done to them “HITTHEMWITHEVERYTHINGWEHAVE!!!!11!!”
Apple should lobby for relaxation of IP laws.
Good luck with that.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
This is an obvious setback for Apple, which has been scrambling to find a way to circumvent the International Trade Commission’s import ban.
A letter from Masimo earlier this week revealed US Customs and Border Protection has approved a measure to remove the blood oxygen feature from relevant Apple Watches.
The ban initially went into effect last month after the company was found to be infringing on Masimo’s patents for blood oxygen monitoring.
It was then lifted a day later, after the federal appeals court issued a temporary stay.
“The Federal Circuit’s decision to lift the temporary stay is a victory for the integrity of the American patent system and the safety of people relying on pulse oximetry,” Joe Kiani, CEO and founder of Masimo, said in a statement.
“It affirms that even the largest and most powerful companies must respect the intellectual rights of American inventors and must deal with the consequences when they are caught infringing others’ patents.”
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