How Should Africa and Africans engage the issue of Intellectual Property Rights

Here in asia I discovered some time ago it is a thorny issue and I wrote on this site awhile ago relating to GMO legal fiction of patent and its subordinating influence in Africa, where VP Biden the self professed zionist is speaking ( zionism: relative to VP, a foreign construct under the auspices of a foreign govt attaching to a foreign military adventure, without standing in our constitution in any way shape or form, antithetical indeed to it, so what the hell does that mean concerning VP Biden's declaration of loyalty to this foreign agency?). He condescends to Kenyans, lying about absence of natural resources there and opening way to Africom no doubt. GMO is a food supply patent wedge for africom?.

Innovation is constant, nothing is truly original?. Certain concepts or products can be captured from one society with police and military power backing, altered or innovated upon, patent is declared and all further innovations can be stifled outside one profit shell. The originators of patent enjoy a long run, gaining competitive advantage in near perpetuity (some pharma?). Patent concept isn't "bad", but it always seems it is misused in the end and true original thinkers are often left penniless and discredited via armies of lawyers working for some corporations (Nikola Tesla). Who has the most money and the sleaziest lawyers carries the day over who benifits from patents?. It's legalism attaching to general historic trends African Nationalists may be familiar with.

Many engineers and scientists work under restrictive contracts for corporations requiring that all patentable work they produce is property of corporation, even if the patent may have the individuals name attaching to the patent filing. Obviously there are bonuses and corporation provides funding and infrastructure for research, the larger issue may be regional dominance attaching to the specific corporation then used in an overtly imperialistic way to control other regions. (anti viral medicines for "AIDS")

Plaigerism for profit is another issue. Difficult to judge, sometimes an author will only shrug saying immitation is the highest form of flattery? Frank Herbert v. (almost) George Lucas a case in point for African novelists - Herbert was not only outraged at the blatant plaigerism of SW, but more infuriated at the perverse twisting of the themes and meanings of his great myth creation by copycat Lucas, he was humiliated by this and other hollywood insults and died not long after STAR WARS unfolded (unfortunately)into popular culture . Even more insulting to Herbert's memory, his own son concocted new novels after a 'safe period" from time of father's death, with an assistant author of no standing, on questionable assertion of finding "notes" in boxes. Among certain elites with significant understanding of intellectual history of western civilization in the last two hundred years, the younger Herbert is passed off as" Neitchze's Sister" - anyone interested can look that up to see what happened there and how FN's works were perverted by his surviving sibling (after dying a ruined man, probably poisoned) to gain immense profits for herself, using the body of work by the well known philosopher to justify eugenics and naziism, both antithetical to his main views! So intellectual property rights could help prevent this sort of thing, but again, who has the money and backing to manipulate the legality of it all? Michael Jackson's legacy of intellectual property rights have similar bearing, worth more dead than alive (J Hendrix, J. Morrison, James Brown, etc).

medicine is an especially thorny issue regarding this in Africa and Asia?. Market Place Mentality over any other consideration? Case in point is the cannabis plant from which a patented process deriving "Marinol" as acceptable medicine avers. There is a war against the plant, a war against the totality of the medicinal herb in all its complexity, safety and multiple uses, yet the shortable Marinol of questionable value is available at a lofty price under severe restrictions(to prevent nauseau and wasting from "chemo therapy"!). Coca leaf as herbal tea or salve is valuable as medicinal herb, as compared to destroyer cocaine and crack, and of course cocaine once had a very profitable patent attaching to it (Coca Cola), just as heroin upon its synthesis from opium did.

Read this site, with permission of editors, a bunch of white canadian war veterans of fine character who discovered truth Rastafarians could have told them about to begin with on medical cannabis, very frustrating -http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/5169.html

Drug companies invaded south america with spy "anthropologists" and "ethnobotanists" (Haiti too) to bring back samples of medicinal plants and substances, patented processes were developed to synthesize (supposedly) certain chemical compounds within the overall molecular structure (the entire organic molecule is not patentable?), deriving "medicine". Meanwhile the rainforest is destroyed by certain interlocked corporate brethren and supplicants , spraying glyphosate and earlier massive amounts of dioxin herbicides (still probably used) on poor farmers and indegenous peoples through means of the military police state - witness agent orange in viet nam - Monsanto/US Air Force/US Govt (my country).

Intellectual property right has its value as a concept and perhaps legal protection, it is basic values that are the larger measure ?- how is it to be used and who will control it? too many lawyers spinning the process for their own bite of the cherry.? Too many lawyers in all governments. Too much government.
Neal Perrochet