Coffee and Intellectual Property 198
cervesaebraciator writes "A 'Coffee Branding Workshop,' sponsored by the World Intellectual Property Organization, was held recently in Arusha City, at which the Director General of the Tanzania Coffee Board presented a paper titled 'Supporting the Coffee Sector with added Value Products Through Intellectual Property and Branding.' The paper encouraged the use of intellectual property claims, including trademarks, copyrights, patents, and designs, as sources of income which can be used to support agriculture in Africa. The Director General claimed that '[Intellectual property rights] are the basis for today's knowledge based economy and international competitiveness.' This is no doubt related to a broader effort to advance western style intellectual property in Africa through claims of the benefits it offers agriculture. Promoting western style intellectual property law as a means of third world development is a popular strategy for WIPO, the only branch of the UN to have significant wealth deriving from contributions independent of Member States. On a related note of interest to Slashdotters, there is a history of tension between WIPO advocates and FOSS advocates." I hope they take advantage of the marketing possibilities offered by civet-processed coffee.
Fuck IP. This is about coffee (Score:1, Insightful)
Bullshit. (Score:5, Insightful)
When people starve to death because Monsanto won't let them grow patented plants, we need to put the bastards up against the wall.
When people starve to death because Goldman Sachs has cornered the Red Spring Wheat market, we need to put the bastards up against the wall.
When people die of malaria because Novartis would rather profit than save lives, we need to put the bastards up against the wall.
"Intellectual property" literally means nothing more than "we value dollars over your life". Anyone using that as a defense for their actions counts as nothing short of a race traitor - To the human race.
The sooner We The People stop putting up with this shit, the sooner we can get back to improving our world rather than making sure the "right" people get paid for improvements 20 years ago.
Re:When are people going to learn (Score:5, Insightful)
where profit means little, and the freedy people (Ferengi) are forbidden interlopers
Profit is just a price signal, it sends information. The problem with IP is that it gives governments an excuse to oppress the freedoms of the masses to reward the few.
Besides, Star Trek governments execute people who build robots. It's not all sunshine and roses there.
Re:When are people going to learn (Score:5, Insightful)
We are making our world uninhabitable (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:If they start patenting coffee ... (Score:1, Insightful)
"I patent water distributed in/consumed from a handheld device."
I patent what you said with round corners.
AC because moderated elsewhere.
If fleas could talk (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:You might like to read up this study (Score:2, Insightful)
How can something be patented before patents were introduced?
Re:Bullshit. (Score:3, Insightful)
They will exterminate us all and rain down total destruction before giving up this power. And they will laugh about it. That's what needs to be understood before going into battle with them. We have not seen the real face of this monster. We live because we comply.
Re:Bullshit. (Score:5, Insightful)
"Whether or not you can extract (and I choose that word deliberately) wealth from a nation through the fiction we call "intellectual property" has nothing to do with the long-term viability of that concept.
When people starve to death because Monsanto won't let them grow patented plants, we need to put the bastards up against the wall. When people starve to death because Goldman Sachs has cornered the Red Spring Wheat market, we need to put the bastards up against the wall. When people die of malaria because Novartis would rather profit than save lives, we need to put the bastards up against the wall.
"Intellectual property" literally means nothing more than "we value dollars over your life". Anyone using that as a defense for their actions counts as nothing short of a race traitor - To the human race.
Nice rant. In many cases I'd agree with what you're saying, stripped of hyperbole. But in this case, asserting trademark rights (intellectual property) is a way to protect the poor coffee farmers. If they want to grow their traditional coffee, or grow "Fair Trade" coffee in a more sustainable manner, they need the protection of a trademark, or some cheap low-life grower from somewhere else will start marketing "Tanzania" coffee with a lousy taste, killing off their future sales, and perhaps their wives and children. IP is exactly what these farmers need to grow their business, and perhaps to survive (I don't know Tanzania).