Quote from: gibson042 on September 01, 2011, 07:38:44 PM

Quote from: Hawker on September 01, 2011, 07:28:38 PM

I'm not joking. Even the person you linked to assumed that trademarks ( the ability to sell under their own name) were needed. Imagine a world where anyone can make a drug and call it Viagra - even if they don't copy the real Viagra, the original maker is being ripped off as the sales of that "Viagra" are actually sales that are intended for their "Viagra."

That's not the original maker being ripped off, that's the buyers being ripped off because they aren't getting the "real Viagra" that they thought they were. And that's true even without monopoly trademarksit's called fraud.

Quote from: Hawker on September 01, 2011, 07:28:38 PM

So you see, trademarks and patents are needed

But its a free market. If anyone wants to try to develop a drug without bothering to have it patented and sell it without bothering to have a trademark, let me know how they do.

"

" is not sufficient for promoting an opinion to a fact. And the claim that there is a free market in drug development, when people who patent and submit to the FDA can use force against those who ignore the patents and/or the agency, is just plain false. The mafia claim that anyone is free to do business without paying protection money, too... let me know how they do.

Your use of the word "real Viagra" says it all. If you don't have a trademark, there is no "real" Viagra and anyone can use the name for anything. And there is a free market in the sense that if you don't want to patent your drug research, you are not forced to. And no-one else can patent it either. The patent law simply means that you can't gop copy someone else's work during the patent period. Once that ends, you can make their invention as a generic drug i.e not using their trademark but yes to using their formula.