On Tue, Apr 6, 2021 at 2:47 PM Nicholas Krause via talk <
talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
On 4/6/21 2:17 PM, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:
> | From: Russell Reiter via talk <talk@gtalug.org>
> |
> | I read that article with interest after I had used a pharmacological/health
> | sciences metaphore about copyright in another thread.
>
> Most drugs are "protected" by patent legislation. Very different from
> copyright.
>
> Perhaps surprisingly, trademark law is very helpful to drug companies
> because what something is called may matter more than what it is.
Yes one of my family members stated this about aspirin after working
at Bayer. They stated the cost was basically 3 to 4 times the regular
non traded medicine even through it was the same. Most people still
bought aspirin through. Happens all the time with other medicines as
well.
I believe it was in in the early 1800's that Dr. Friedrich Serturner isolated an alkaloid
from the opium poppy. He called it morphine after morpheus the god of sleep. In the modernization of
medicine the english Dr. Sydenham, one of the earliest english diarists said “Of all the remedies it has pleased almighty God to give man to relieve
his pain and suffering, none is so universal and so efficacious as opium.”
I think it was in 1888 that Bayer patented and released two products, Aspirin and Heroin (heroic) the substance legally described as diacetyl morphine. If I recall correctly it is created by exposing the alkaloid morphine to acetic acid anhydrides.
Interestingly the Opium Poppy (papaver somniferum) has many alkaloids but only a few psychoactives which affect human biology; morphine, codeine, thebaine, noscapine (also called narcotine), and papaverine. The modern endorphin receptors were firstly named opium receptors.
It was the fact that opium affected all mammals in every corner of the world, which led to those studies in symbiosis that led to further research. Why would a substance, which only grows well in a narrow equatorial region affect mammals not present in those areas?
Ancient sumerian tablets had images of people with poppy stalks growing out of their heads, which indicated that those ancients were well aware of the psychotropic effects of the oil extracted from the seeds and used for cooking.
Of course there is always the Seinfeld episode, for a bit of comic relief, under fair use policy @ 0.30 in.
>
> | You may use other copy protected work under fair use if it adds value to
> | the proposition. I think this decision makes that pretty clear.
>
> There are a few tests for US Fair Use. Do you think that
> "transformative" is the same as you meant by "adds value"?
>
> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformation_(law)>
I'm not a lawyer but to my knowledge there can be overlap. It really
comes now to content again. For APIs the content is clearly no but
perhaps in other cases it is. For example, translations add value but
are considered transformative in nature. Content in the legal system
is always critical.
Nick
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