Saturday, October 3, 2009

U.S. group urges strong patent rights in climate deal

This article is a great example of public goods as a market failure. The good in question is air. Currently, companies have patents on technology that is better for the environment, and they do not want others to cash in on it, even though it would make the environment much better off. They are concerned that they will be losing their intellectual property. One proposed solution is for the government to issue licenses that would allow people to use the technology. Other countries are lobbying for the rights to the technology, but allowing this to happen would cost the United States millions of jobs.


1 comment:

Bushra Sheikh said...

This a very interesting article because it has taken a very different approach of fight the climate change. Global warming has always been a heated topic in politics.. Countries like the US are not ready to do something about it because it will cost them a lot and as the article points out there will be lost of important technology which are the main purpose of the climate change. Issuing licenses can work but it might be difficult for developing countries to be part of it as it may have prices.